


Sunnyland

by sad_drake_lyrics



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pocket Monsters: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon | Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon Versions
Genre: AU where Guzma never dissolved Team Skull, Alternate Universe - Dark, Child Abuse, Dark fic, Domestic Violence, Drug Dealing, Drug Use, F/M, Lusamine is a narcissistic abuser, Sibling Incest, blondemysteryshipping, foul language used liberally, so much porn, takes place about 5 years after the events of the game, there is also gonna be a LOT of smut like, this will be dark af but it is also a love story, which is canon if u ask me but whatever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:48:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23779396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sad_drake_lyrics/pseuds/sad_drake_lyrics
Summary: A tourist brochure reads the following: The region of Alola, a set of tropical islands where people and Pokemon live together in harmony. The average temperature is seventy degrees with a humidity level of sixty percent. On a cloudless day, the artificial island of Aether Paradise can be seen across the sea. This very large floating structure is the home of Aether Foundation, a corporation dedicated to the research and conservation of Pokemon, and one of the prides of Alola.You look out across the water, and if you squint, you can see something that looks like a bright white castle in the middle of the ocean. The effect is quite unsettling. It isn't difficult to imagine that such a place is filled with secrets.You look back down at the brochure and see a picture of the Aether Foundation President, an unearthly beautiful blonde woman wearing all black and white. She's smiling, but something about her face is menacing. You look back at the castle, and actually feel a little bit sick...
Relationships: Acerola/OC, Gladio | Gladion & Lilie | Lillie, Guzma/Lusamine (Pokemon), Guzma/Plumeri | Plumeria
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. a beautiful day

**Author's Note:**

> i was thinking about writing a little essay here, but the tags should say it all so i'll save my rant. you have been warned. enter at your own risk. shout out thanks to James and Twitch for giving me their opinions. xoGhost

It was another beautiful day in Alola: cloudless, breezy, and a perfect temperature of seventy five degrees on the dot. Lillie fought back tears in the dressing room of Ocean Lace boutique. She was in the middle of trying on gowns for the upcoming annual Alola Debutante Ball under the critical eye of Lusamine, who had actually taken time off of work to hand select her daughter’s wardrobe.

Lusamine was perched in a velvet armchair in the viewing room, legs crossed, drinking a glass of champagne and typing away at her phone. She may have left Aether Paradise for the day, but she brought work with her, and refused to take her attention away from her work email. Lillie would come out of the fitting room in a dress and Lusamine would critique it, then turn back to her phone when Lillie went to get changed again. 

Lillie wanted it to stop, but there was no way for her to escape her mother’s absolute control of the proceedings. She thought about climbing out the window in the fitting room and running away down the beach.

“What about this one, Mother?” asked Lillie, coming out of the dressing room in an ivory gown with a lace collar that she felt was choking her.

Lusamine peered over her phone.

“Turn around,” Lusamine said, studying Lillie.

Lillie turned, and she caught a glimpse of her face in the fanned boutique mirrors, wondering if her mother would notice the glassiness of her eyes.

“I don’t like the back,” said Lusamine, frowning deeply. “The zipper is too noticeable, and it won’t lay flat. Nothing fits you right. Try on another.”

“I’m tired of trying on dresses, Mother,” said Lillie, wishing she could just disappear. “You didn’t like any of the twenty gowns I must have tried already?”

“Obviously I didn’t, Lillie, or you wouldn’t be still trying them. We also need to pick a dress for the White Party after this, too.”

Lillie’s heart sunk.

“I… I was hoping I could pick my own dress for the White Party,” said Lillie in a weak voice.

Lusamine practically rolled her eyes, throwing back the rest of the champagne.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lillie. You can try on a few things you pick out, sure, if that will satisfy you; but I have to approve of the final choice. And I need to get back to work, so you shouldn’t waste too much time—Natalie?” Lusamine called the sales girl over and asked for a top up on her champagne. “Well, go on, Lillie. We don’t have all day. Next dress.”

Lillie sighed, and went back into the dressing room. She had absolutely no desire to be presented at the Alola Debutante Ball, but her mother was adamant that she participate, and worse, that she be escorted by Victor Ferro. He was the son of the CEO of Silph Co., based out of Kanto and the leading Pokemon technology company in the world, and Lusamine had been spending a lot of time with the Ferro family lately. Victor seemed nice enough, but Lillie had only met him briefly once before at a dinner party, and she couldn’t say that she was interested in spending more time with him than a few passing pleasantries.

She put on another gown, this one a pale pink with off-the-shoulder sleeves. As much as she wasn’t interested in being a debutante, Lillie supposed she liked this dress best of all of the ones she had tried on.

“I like this one, Mother,” said Lillie, coming out of the dressing room with high hopes that this would be the final look.

“Oh my, that’s the worst one I’ve seen you in,” said Lusamine, making a disgusted face. “Take it off. What is Hobbes feeding you lately? That looks all wrong on your body. I’ll email him a diet plan for you—but, really, there just isn’t time with all the work I have to do.”

Lillie obeyed, her heart deflated as she looked at herself in the dressing room mirror. The gown was really pretty to her, and she didn’t think she looked overweight in it. All of her mother’s critiques of the day were starting to get to her, and she felt weak and beaten down.

Sighing, she slipped out of the pink dress and grabbed the next one, but not before staring at her naked body in the mirror, pinching at her stomach.

“Lillie? Hurry up, sweetie! We’re running out of time. Natalie, will you bring that one—the vintage one from the website? That might look decent on her,” Lusamine rambled from the viewing room on the other side of the curtain.

This went on for another half an hour, Lusamine ordering the shopgirl around and critiquing Lillie’s figure while tossing back champagne.

_ Oof, that color on you; it just washes you out. _

_ You simply don’t have the chest for that one. My, how funny. Maybe they’ll grow more. _

_ My little baby! This one’s almost pretty, but no, it isn’t quite right. You’re so difficult to dress, but we’ll get there. _

Finally, Lusamine found something she liked, and Lillie couldn’t stand it: a fluffy white gown with a beaded bodice that Lillie felt looked too much like a tacky wedding dress that may have been trendy twenty years ago.

Lillie sighed as she looked at herself in the fanned mirrors of the viewing room, turning this way and that, trying to feel like what she imagined a beautiful, confident debutante of sixteen years old should feel like, whatever that was. Pleased with herself, she supposed she should feel; grown up like the woman society was telling her she was finally old enough to be. Unnervingly, she simply felt like she didn’t know who she was looking at in the mirror.

“Here, Lillie,” said Lusamine, strutting over and shoving a handful of frilly lace garments into her daughter’s hands. “Now that we’re all set with your look for the ball, let’s find something for the White Party. You’ll be wanting to look your best since Victor will be there!”

“But, Mother… I thought you said I could look around and pick out a dress?” Lillie dared to ask.

Lusamine laughed.

“If we had time, Lillie, but you’ve wasted it all. I’ve got to get back to work soon,” said Lusamine, and her phone started ringing then, so she spun away, answering the phone call.

Lillie bit her lip and carried the dresses into the fitting room, dropping them unceremoniously on the chair and watching as two silent tears fell on the white satin fabric. The whole point of debutante balls was to announce young women to society, so why, if she was her own woman now, was her mother still picking out all of her clothes? Lusamine had always treated her like a little doll, and she was sick of it.

“What do you think of this one, Mother?” asked Lillie exasperatedly, coming out of the dressing room in a cocktail dress bursting with white tulle and tied with a huge bow at her back. Lillie felt it was terribly juvenile, like something she would’ve worn when she was ten years old.

“Raphael? I’ve got to call you back,” said Lusamine to the man on the other end of the phone. “We’re still on for dinner tonight. See you later.”

Lusamine studied Lillie, beaming.

“I think it’s precious,” said Lusamine, finishing her third glass of champagne. “My little baby. Victor will simply adore you in this.”

Lillie stared at herself in the giant mirrors, disgusted.

“Natalie, don’t you love this?” Lusamine was asking the shopgirl, who replied with a high-pitch squealing Lillie knew was faked in order to upsell her mother on the dress, which Lillie had noticed had an exorbitant price tag.

“I hate it, Mother,” said Lillie honestly.

She couldn’t stand this game anymore.

“We just got a new shipment of party dresses I can bring out, if you’d like,” said Natalie, not missing a beat. “One of my favorite designers sent us a few pieces from his collection, and it’s super fresh.”

Lusamine put her hand out to stop the girl, and addressed Lillie venomously, “What is wrong with it, dear?”

Lillie turned away from the mirrors to face her mother.

“Everything!” she cried. “It looks like what you used to dress me in when I was a baby. I’m sixteen years old now; almost seventeen. I should be able to pick out my own dress.”

“I-I’ll go look through the new shipment,” said Natalie, excusing herself from the scene. She had seen plenty of mothers and daughters arguing in her time running the boutique, but if she were honest with herself, Lusamine was a little frightening and she would rather not be involved.

“Lillie,” spat Lusamine, and it was almost a growl. “How dare you embarrass me like this here?”

“I’m just trying to have an honest conversation with you,” said Lillie, feeling as though she had been pushed to the edge and couldn’t contain her feelings anymore. “You’re treating me like a child. Not to mention all the horrible things you keep saying about my body. How do you think that makes me feel?”

Lusamine shut her eyes for a moment, as though she simply couldn’t handle the sound of Lillie’s voice.

“Why you always think everything is all about how  **you** feel is beyond me,” said Lusamine, angrily gathering up her pocket book. “Put on your clothes and gather up the dresses we’ve selected, it’s time to go.”

“But Mother—“

“Right now,” barked Lusamine sternly, getting up and heading over to the counter to talk with the cashiers.

Lillie sighed heavily, going back into the dressing room to put her regular clothes on. She shook silently, all worked up from the altercation with her mother. Lusamine wasn’t happy, and Lillie knew she was in trouble.

A small voice deep down told her that it was unfair, that Lusamine was mistreating her. But it was drowned out by a frightened inner wailing at upsetting her mother. Anxiety and self doubt built up in her chest, telling her that she had spoken out of line. She grabbed the dresses she hated and made her way to the cash register, noticing her mother wouldn’t even look at her as she paid for the dresses and arranged for them to be delivered to the manor.

Lusamine strutted out of the boutique, Lillie following her, sulking; she could feel the anger radiating off her mother, and she knew she was in for a nasty scolding when they got home.

Mother and daughter got into their private limo, Lillie holding back tears.

“How dare you speak to me like that in there, in front of those girls,” said Lusamine, so angry she was unable to wait until they got back to the manor before laying into her daughter. There was a wild look in her eyes that frightened Lillie. “And complaining that you’re tired of trying things on. I took time off of work to help you pick out dresses and you are this ungrateful!”

“Mother, I don’t even want to go to the ball! You are the one who—“ Lillie started, but she was silenced by the back of Lusamine’s hand striking her across the face. 

The blow was harsh, decisive, and wicked. Lillie cried out in pain, her cheek burning.

“I’ve heard enough from you, Lillie,” said Lusamine afterward, looking pointedly out the window and away from her daughter. “You behave like this and I still bought you the dresses, anyway; shows what a pushover I am. I try so hard to be a good mother. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Lillie was speechless. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it had been years now since her mother had last hit her, and never had she been hit this hard. Tears bled out of the corners of her eyes, though she swore to herself she wouldn’t make a sound. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks the whole ride back to the manor. She stared straight ahead, refusing to look at Lusamine.

She was successful for most of the ride home, but as Lillie stepped out of the car into the driveway she let out a loud sob, almost running to the front door of the manor to get away from her mother.

“Lillie, there’s no reason for you to cry—“ began Lusamine, sighing as she got out of the car.

Lillie heard her, but she still hurried to the door, practically knocking Hobbes over as she entered the house.

Lusamine sighed again, walking carefully into the manor, refusing to chase after her. If Lillie didn’t want to be hit, she should just behave like a good child was supposed to.

Lillie ran to her room, slamming the door and bawling, her cheek on fire. She looked in her vanity mirror and saw a horrible red mark appearing on her cheekbone, realizing it would bruise. She threw herself onto her bed, crying pitifully.

She sobbed, frantic thoughts racing through her mind. How could her mother do this to her? How could she? How could she?

Did Lillie deserve this for the way that she had acted?

She didn’t want to be in the manor any longer. She didn’t feel safe, fear and panic coursing through her body. But where could she go? She thought about it for a moment, wondering who could possibly help her. There was only one place that felt like it would be safe.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Gladion hated visiting Po Town. The Team Skull kids who hung around here were the worst of the worst, belligerently annoying, always asking him for cigarettes and drugs and money, and they smelled like garbage. Po Town itself was dirty, trash in the streets and houses boarded up and covered in graffiti all along the shabby streets. Only the poorest in Alola lived here alongside Team Skull, and Gladion generally found the whole place sad.

There were a few beautiful moments, he supposed as he walked along, watching a spiky-haired kid spray painting a mural on the side of a brick building. Gladion hated to give the grunts any credit, but the painting was really good, an underwater scene filled with impressively rendered Pokemon and undersea plant life. Rap music blared from a boombox beside the grunt who admired his handiwork like a master artist. Gladion found himself wondering what had happened in this young man’s life that he was wasting his time with Team Skull.

‘Could say the same thing about me,’ he thought despairingly. He had been wondering that a lot lately, ultimately coming to the conclusion that life was just pointless, and it didn’t matter what he did, so he might as well be making money the way he was. Maybe if he left Alola for good he could live a life he was proud of somewhere.

‘Yeah right,’ he thought in response to that train of thought. As if that would ever happen.

Gladion made it to the broken down estate that Team Skull used as their headquarters and knocked on the door, a special sequence that only the members of Team Skull knew.

“Oi! Yo yo yo!” sang the scruffy kid who manned the door, performing an obnoxious little dance as he opened it up. He couldn’t have been more than fourteen years old. “Team Skull is in the house!”

Gladion rolled his eyes.

“Is Guzma here?” he asked, looking around the foyer. 

‘What a fucking shithole,’ he thought. It smelled like stale food and cheap beer, and stains covered the carpets. It was dark as the chandelier in the main hall was missing some lights.

“Yeah! The Big Boss is upstairs! Yo!”

“Whatever,” Gladion mumbled, pushing past the grunt.

“Hey! Big bro! Have you got a cigarette to spare? Or a couple dollars?” the kid called after him as he made his way up the stairs.

“Fuck off,” said Gladion, not looking back at him.

The kid grumbled and sulked, going back to the dirty magazine he was looking at as he stood guard at the door.

Gladion sighed as he made his way through the house. He was bored. Tired. Depressed. He didn’t really know anymore, he was so sick of everything and everyone. He truly hated picking up weed from Guzma, but he was out of stock and if he wanted to keep making money he had no choice but to come here and suck up to the Big Boss while he was at it.

Plumeria was on her way out of the room as he reached the top of the stairs. 

“He’s in a good mood,” said Plumeria, nodding at Gladion. A look and a short sentence was the most acknowledgment she ever gave him, and he didn’t bother to respond to her.

Sighing, he knocked on the door.

A lanky boy even taller than Gladion who was missing a front tooth opened up the door.

“Yo,” he said, without the enthusiasm of the young grunt standing guard at the front entrance. “What’re you here for?”

“Picking up,” said Gladion, wishing he didn’t have to deal with this.

The tall boy stepped aside and Gladion entered the room. It was dark save for a hoard of neon lava lamps scattered about the room and the faint buzzing of a gigantic TV that was blaring the sounds of a professional Pokémon battle. Guzma sat in his throne, smoking a blunt.

“Gladion!” Guzma called, waving him over enthusiastically. “Just the guy I wanted to see today.”

“Yeah, why’s that?” asked Gladion warily.

“We’ll get to it, no rush,” said Guzma. His body language was jovial, and Gladion noted that Plumeria was apparently right that he was in a good mood. “Come sit down with me.”

Today was one of those days Guzma wanted to socialize, and this was the last thing Gladion needed. He felt like rocking the boat would make his situation worse, so he showed Guzma the respect he desired and sat down on the stained couch. 

“Here, try this. It’s good shit,” said Guzma, passing him the blunt.

Gladion took a hit.

“Yeah, it’s good,” he said, coughing. “Do you have some of that for me?”

“Patience,” said Guzma, also hitting the blunt as he took it back from Gladion. “We haven’t even talked yet. Make yourself comfortable. We’re watching the tournament in Kalos. I’ve got some big money on this match.”

Gladion idly tuned into a few minutes of the match. Both trainers were down to two of six Pokémon. It was raining in Kalos, and the trainers and Pokemon weathered the harsh storm on the battlefield.

“Yeah!” shouted Guzma as a Raichu landed an attack on a Gengar. “Show him who’s fucking boss!”

Gladion had wanted to grab his product and be out of there as soon as he could, but it didn’t look like he would be able to make a quick escape. Hanging out with Guzma wasn’t his idea of a fun day, but he did technically work for the Big Boss just like all the other grunts, and acknowledging this made Gladion angry.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” asked Gladion after ten minutes of smoking with Guzma and watching the match.

“You’re all business, kid, huh? I guess that’s why you get more done than these fucking low lives around here. That’s why I need you.”

“What do you mean?” asked Gladion, raising an eyebrow.

“You’ve been part of my crew for how long?” asked Guzma, leaning back in his throne with his hands behind his head.

“That’s not exactly our arrangement,” said Gladion carefully.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m getting at. For years, we’ve rented you out when we needed the extra muscle; you’re a much more competent trainer than these kids, you know I’ve always told you that. And you’ve been dealing for me for a couple years now. Leaves me wondering when you’re going to finally start wearing our colors.”

“What do you mean?” asked Gladion, not liking the direction this conversation was taking.

“I mean join Team Skull for real,” said Guzma. He started breaking up a line of coke on the little table he had set up near his throne, his eyes flitting wildly between what he was doing and the match on the screen. “Be one of us.”

Gladion had to be very careful with how he chose his words so as not to offend Guzma.

“You’ve offered that before,” said Gladion finally. “I’ve considered it. But the way things are right now works for me.”

“You’re independent, I get that,” said Guzma, snorting the line. “But you’ve got to look at the bigger picture. You could do great things here. What I’m saying is, don’t think you’d be a low level grunt. I’m looking for a right-hand man.”

It wasn’t completely surprising to Gladion to be offered this, because the Team Skull boss had always had a soft spot for him, but he had no desire to be an official part of Team Skull.

“I’m not looking to get tied down,” said Gladion, hoping Guzma wouldn’t probe him further.

“What, like you’re gonna leave Alola?” asked Guzma, laughing, and then he burst out in a raucous cheer as the Gengar he was rooting against was knocked out. “That’ll be the day, right? No one gets off these stupid islands, you know that. But you could make something of yourself if you wanted to be my guy.”

Gladion was running out of polite ways to turn down Guzma’s offer, so he was relieved when his phone rang. Guzma gestured to him to answer it, wrapped up in the match on the television, so Gladion hit the green button and put the phone to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey… Gladion?”

It was Lillie.

“I’m kind of busy right now,” said Gladion, feeling guilty to brush her off but also stressed to be in the middle of the conversation he was in.

“I’m sorry, but it’s important. Can I come over?” asked Lillie, her voice breaking.

Gladion sighed, trying to ignore the burst of worry that filled up in his chest. She didn’t sound good. He may act tough, but things were always different with Lillie. He would drop everything for her.

“I’m not home right now. What about tonight?”

He heard her sigh and sniffle.

“Y-Yeah, I can come by tonight. When?”

“I don’t know, um… eight o’clock should be good. Can it wait that long?”

She hesitated, but gave him the okay.

“Alright. I’ll see you then. Bye,” said Gladion, hanging up. He had a bad feeling about this. He ran a hand through his messy hair and tried to shake off his worry.

“Sorry about that,” he said to Guzma. “My little sister needs me.”

“Ain’t that sweet,” said Guzma, chuckling. “But, you know, your Team Skull brothers and sisters need you, too. These kids need a role model. You could help them train and become strong.”

Thinking about taking up Guzma’s offer made Gladion feel trapped. Panic bubbled up and his chest felt tight.

“I’ll think about it,” said Gladion, hoping that would be the end of it.

“Good, good, think about it. I’m sure you’ll come to the right decision. Fuck!” he shouted, slamming his fist on the table as Raichu was knocked out.

Gladion sighed. Guzma was pressuring him to join Team Skull, Lillie needed him… this was a lot, and he was worried he was too depressed and tired to deal with it. At least he had gotten a nice high.

Guzma was wrapped up in the final battle of the match, so Gladion asked again for the product he had come to pick up, and Guzma waved to the lanky boy manning the door to take care of it. Gladion shoved the bags of weed into a beat up backpack he had brought with him and left the estate, filled with dread at what was to come.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

At eight o’clock sharp there was a knock on Gladion’s door. Emo rock music blared from his phone and he turned it off, getting up off the bed to answer the door.

Lillie stood on the other side, biting her lip. Inky blue darkness flooded the sky, but it was warm and humid. She had thrown a pink hoodie over the dress she wore, and her face was hidden beneath the hood.

“Hey,” said Lillie, relieved to see her brother in the flesh. He was always away for too long without coming back to the manor to visit, and it was embarrassing how much she missed him.

“Hey,” Gladion mumbled. “Come in.”

“Thanks,” she said, walking by him.

Ever a clean freak herself, Lillie immediately noticed there was a pile of dirty clothes on the floor at the foot of his bed and that his coffee table was littered with plastic bags and containers of half-eaten takeout.

“Gladion! It’s a mess in here!” Lillie remarked, not knowing what she had been expecting.

“Did you come here to make me clean?” asked Gladion, rolling his eyes at her.

“N-No, but, well, I worry about you—“ Lillie started, but Gladion cut her off.

“—Yeah, yeah, I know,” he said stubbornly, not wanting to talk about it. A faint blush tinged his cheeks. He had been feeling too depressed to clean lately, but Lillie didn’t need to know that. “So, what’s going on?”

“M-Mother… um, Mother...” Lillie found herself nervous to tell him, and part of her still couldn’t process that it had happened. She didn’t know how Gladion would react. He hadn’t been home in months, so he had no idea how pushy and controlling Lusamine had been lately with the debutante ball coming up.

“Yeah?” Gladion asked, starting to get worried himself because she was acting so strangely. She wouldn’t look him in the eye.

“Mother hit me,” said Lillie, staring hard at the floor. Embarrassment flooded her, as though it were her fault. Tears stung the corners of her eyes.

“What!?” 

Lillie took off her hood and tucked her hair behind her ear, showing her cheek to him.

“What the fuck?” asked Gladion, stepping over to her and inspecting the reddened area that was turning into a bruise. “She did this to you?”

“...Yes,” said Lillie, her cheeks hot. Tears spilled down them. Her emotions were a tangled web in her belly, a disgusting mess like she felt, unable to be processed or sorted. She hoped she didn’t look as gross to Gladion as she felt.

“Fuck, are you okay? What happened?”

Lillie crossed her arms and hugged herself, sniffling.

“We got into a fight at the boutique when we were shopping for dresses for the Alola Debutante Ball that she wants me to be a part of. I stood up to her when she was being horrible to me; you know, the way she tries to control everything and comments on my body and… I don’t know, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I tried to tell her how I felt... and… then she told me I was embarrassing her and did this.”

“In public!?” asked Gladion incredulously.

“No, in the limo on our way home.”

“Fuck,” Gladion swore, hit with a swirl of emotions. Anger colored all of them. “She’s such a fucking piece of shit. What an evil fucking cunt.”

“Gladion! Don’t say that!”

“It’s true, Lillie! She’s a horrible person. Look what she did to you!” he shouted, and Lillie looked down at the ground. “Fuck, I’m sorry this happened.”

Lillie sat down on the bed, sobbing. She didn’t like to hear him yelling even though she knew he wasn’t yelling at her. Complicated emotions strangled her, and all she could do was cry.

“I didn’t feel safe at the manor and this is the only place I thought I could come. I’m sorry if you were busy,” said Lillie, wiping her eyes.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m glad you came here,” said Gladion, sitting down next to her.

He sat there quietly, listening to her cry. 

“...Listen, I… I know I’m not around a lot but… I’m always here for you, Lillie, you know that…”

“T-Thanks,” she whimpered, sniffling.

Fucking Lusamine. How dare she put her hands on Lillie? Anger felt like it was a monster clawing its way out of his chest. He wanted to hit things. He gently put a hand on Lillie’s back.

“Don’t cry, Lillie, please. It’s killing me,” said Gladion, his heart breaking. Ever since he could remember, his biggest weakness was seeing his little sister in pain.

Lillie shook as he pulled her head down against his shoulder. Her tears were warm on his t-shirt, soaking onto his skin.

“You should never cry like this,” he said, burning inside.

Gladion felt angry at himself. He shouldn’t have let this happen. It was his fault for not being there to protect her. He wished that he could take all of her pain away and feel it himself instead.

“Why doesn’t she love me?” Lillie whispered against his shoulder, overcome with her tears. Part of her was still making excuses for her mother, but a small voice deep inside was telling her she didn’t deserve to be treated this way. It was difficult to hear that voice.

“I already told you, because she’s a horrible person. She doesn’t love anyone but herself,” said Gladion, holding back some more choice words he had for his mother.

“She used to love us, though, when we were really little. You should remember better than me,” Lillie sniffled, trying to recall back further than her memories would allow. “When Father was still here with us.”

“I don’t know if that’s true. Something changed, or maybe she just didn’t show this side of her around Father. There’s no way to rationalize her behavior,” said Gladion.

He muttered his true feelings about Lusamine, unable to keep it in.

“Fucking bitch.”

Lillie considered this.

“I feel like I must have done something,” she said, darkness in her heart. Maybe she shouldn’t have yelled at her mother in the boutique.

“You didn’t. None of this is your fault, you hear that?”

Lillie stared at the ground. Gladion tipped his hand under her chin, making her look him in the eyes.

“It’s not your fault,” he said, trying to make her understand.

Tears spilled down her cheeks again.

“A-Are you sure?” Lillie stammered.

“Yes. I promise you.”

Gladion stared into Lillie’s eyes and he could see she was frightened, but also how much she trusted him. He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, near to her bruise but careful not to irritate it.

Lillie shivered as his lips grazed her skin so tenderly, as though she were precious; and as gently as though she might break. He pulled back, but their faces were still very close together. He leaned in to kiss her other cheek, taken by that hurt yet trusting look in her eyes, and suddenly their lips were pressed together. It lasted nearly three seconds. Neither of them knew which of them—or what unknown force—had made it happen. It may have been merely an accident.

They stared at each other in surprise after breaking the kiss.

“G-Gladion…”

“Lillie… what…”

Their hearts raced, each sure the other could hear their own heart beating. Gladion had dreams where he had kissed his sister before; done more than kissed her, truthfully, but that was a deep, dark secret that no one was ever supposed to find out, especially not Lillie herself. The way she shivered on his bed, watching him with those baby doll eyes, the scene was starting to look a lot like the beginning of one of those dreams, and he cursed himself mentally for thinking of that.

“I’m sorry,” said Gladion, looking down at his lap, ashamed. “I don’t know what the fuck happened.”

“It’s okay…” muttered Lillie, trying to search his face for answers, but he wouldn’t look her in the eye. “It was just an accident… I think.”

They sat in silence for a few moments. Brother and sister stared at each other, not knowing how to process what was happening to them.

If he tried to kiss her again, maybe what happened in those dreams could happen in reality—fuck! No!

Gladion decided to push it away and change the subject.

“...Hey, at least you stopped crying,” said Gladion, brushing her hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear.

Lillie gave him a weak little laugh, struggling to smile. It felt so nice to have him caring for her, like he always did when she needed him. It made her heart feel warm.

“Gladion?” she asked, full of nervousness.

“Yeah?”

“Will you hold me?”

He didn’t know if that was a good idea, especially since they had just kissed and he still didn’t know how to feel about it, but he couldn’t say no to her when she was in pain.

“...Yeah. Come here.”

She climbed onto his lap and into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder and slinking her small arms around him. Gladion wrapped his arms around Lillie’s waist, pulling her against him.

“Is Father ever coming back, Gladion?” Lillie asked him after they passed several moments in silence.

“I don’t think so,” Gladion replied, noticing that Lillie snuggling against him had his heart almost beating out of his chest. “I held out hope for a long time, but… I don’t know, Lillie. You shouldn’t count on that.”

“I’m scared. Scared of Mother,” she admitted, trying not to cry again. “She’s always hurting me. I’m scared of what she could do next.”

“Don’t be. Now that I know this is happening, I can protect you.”

“Thank you… I’m sorry I’m so useless…” Lillie mumbled as silent tears leaked down her cheeks. “You’re always protecting me… like when Mother sent Team Skull after Nebby and I… I can’t do anything for myself.”

Gladion kissed Lillie’s forehead in a desperate attempt to comfort her.

“It’s okay, Lillie. You’re here with me. Don’t cry anymore.”

He rubbed his hands up and down her back, trying to get her to calm down.

“C-Can… Can I stay here tonight?” asked Lillie, petrified of going home. She worried that she was asking too much of him.

Gladion’s heart hammered against his ribs, remembering the soft feeling of her lips.

‘It was just a bizarre moment. An accident. It will go away.’

“Of course. I’ll bring you home tomorrow when you’re ready,” he said, swallowing. It was the answer he wanted to give, but something about agreeing to this felt dangerous.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, and she pulled back from his shoulder to look into his eyes and give him a feeble smile.

The space between their bodies felt like it was full of electricity or some kind of magnetism that was drawing them toward each other even still. Gladion forcibly pulled himself away from it, getting up.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said, going to the closet to look for an extra pillow and blanket.

He found what he needed and set up a bed for himself on the couch.

“Do you need to borrow pajamas?” he asked, feeling nervous to turn and look at her on his bed, as though he had just done something unforgivable to her.

“Is that okay?” asked Lillie.

Neither of them knew that the other was trying very hard not to think about their kiss.

“Yeah, no problem,” said Gladion, and he dug through the wardrobe for a pair of flannel pants and a t-shirt that didn’t really fit him anymore. He handed the clothes to her, nervous to even be near her. “Here.”

“Thank you,” said Lillie, taking them and getting up to go to the bathroom to change.

“There’s a pack of toothbrushes behind the mirror,” said Gladion, running a hand through his messy hair as he watched her walk away. “I just bought some, so you can have one.”

“Thank you,” Lillie called, shutting the bathroom door.

Gladion shook his head, discovering that he was struggling to breathe.

‘What the fuck, Gladion!? Just let it go. She has. It was no big deal,’ he said to himself, grabbing his own pair of pajama pants out of the dresser drawer.

But it might be a big deal to him. He was hit with more memories of the dreams he would have of her sometimes; dreams that made him hate himself and want to submerge himself in shame and drown. Dreams where they did filthy things that a brother and sister should never do together.

He absolutely couldn’t think about that now.

He changed quickly, catching himself blushing at the thought that she was also probably taking her clothes off in the other room. 

‘Don’t fucking think about that Gladion, what the fuck!?’

These thoughts were making him a mess, and he threw his jeans onto the pile of dirty clothes on the floor and went over to sit on the couch, turning on the television. Shortly after, Lillie came out of the bathroom wearing his old pajamas, and they agreed to watch TV together for a couple of hours before they went to sleep. Gladion and Lillie sat far apart from each other on the couch, both of them lost in thoughts about their kiss, not really able to focus on the show. 

‘Did I… do that?’ was the thought that plagued Gladion’s mind, and he hoped Lillie didn’t notice the redness of his cheeks in the faint light of the television screen. ‘Did I make that happen? Or did she kiss me? Did I… like it?’ Those dreams he had of her had to come from somewhere, he supposed. He always tried to tell himself it was some bizarre psychological thing that he couldn’t control. ‘There’s no way I actually wanted to kiss my sister. I wouldn’t go through with it for real! Then maybe… did she kiss me…?’

‘Kissing Gladion was… kind of nice,’ thought Lillie, wondering what that meant. It wasn’t her first kiss, but at the same time she had never had a boyfriend, so there hadn’t been many to compare it to, only one inconvenient dare in the school courtyard. Surely she didn’t want to kiss her brother again? No, certainly not. She thought about bringing it up and laughing with him to ease the awkwardness, but she wasn’t sure if mentioning it at all would make it worse.

Even more concerning was the fact that she wasn’t sure how it had happened. Did she kiss him or did he kiss her? What was wrong with her for kissing her brother on the lips? She should’ve pulled away quicker. Maybe he was upset with her over it, and that feeling was rotten.

“Well, goodnight, Gladion,” said Lillie after a couple of hours of pretending to watch the television with him. “Thank you for letting me stay here. I feel better to be away from home.”

“No problem. Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, concerned for how quiet she had been the past couple of hours and paranoid that she had noticed him being quiet as well.

“Yeah, I’m just tired. Goodnight,” said Lillie.

“Goodnight,” said Gladion, watching her walk away out of the corner of his eye.

His stomach was doing flip flops as he watched her climb into his bed. Oh, fuck. What was he thinking?

Gladion didn’t watch television much before turning it off and laying there in the dark, trying to distance himself from his thoughts. He faced the back of the couch, determined not to look at Lillie asleep in his bed. Would it be pervy to watch her sleep?

‘What the fuck? STOP IT!’

It was maybe an hour of lying there agonizing before Lillie called out to him.

“Gladion? Are you awake?”

As if he could sleep. He had trouble sleeping, anyway, which he supposed was part of the anxiety he lived with, but tonight his mind was racing with thoughts about kissing Lillie. And, worst of all, how he thought he might want to do it again.

“Yeah,” he said, heart beating fast. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” said Lillie, relieved to hear his voice. “I just can’t sleep.”

“How come?” Gladion asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer. A small voice inside of him wished it was because she was also thinking about him.

“...Not sure,” said Lillie, though it sounded like a lie even to her.

She swallowed.

“Are… Are you mad at me?” asked Lillie, and it was like voicing her deepest fear.

Gladion was surprised.

“No, Lillie. Of course not. Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know,” Lillie mumbled. “Just… um… I don’t know how to feel… about earlier.”

Gladion’s skin felt hot.

“You said it yourself,” he said finally, deciding to be as neutral as he possibly could in his reply. “It was just an accident. No big deal.”

Lillie wasn’t happy with that answer. Something peculiar had been brewing in her heart since that moment, and part of her thought maybe she should keep it to herself. After the events of the day, she was feeling vulnerable and open, like Gladion was the only one she could talk to about her real feelings. She didn’t know what came over her, but she felt brave enough to tell him how she felt.

“...I can’t stop thinking about it… and… you might think I’m being weird but... I think I kind of liked it,” she said quietly, her cheeks burning and her stomach in knots as she waited for his reply. “Isn’t that funny?”

She expected him to laugh, but he didn’t. Gladion was silent for a few beats, and Lillie was frightened that he hadn’t heard her, or worse, that he thought she was gross or crazy.

“...I liked it too,” said Gladion hoarsely. “I mean. In a funny kind of way. Like you said.”

Gladion felt dizzy. What was he saying!? Was this really happening?

The electricity was back, like static, connecting them across the space between them in the room. Lillie’s heart was alight at this admission, and her curiosity was warring with her better sense as she realized she wanted him to be close to her. She drowned in the thick suffocating silence, not knowing what to say next.

“Do you… um…” Gladion started.

“What?” asked Lillie, excitement and nerves coursing through her.

“W-What if… Do you think it would happen again if… uh, do you want me to come over there?”

Lillie’s breath caught.

“...You mean… sleep with me?” she asked, blushing furiously at what she was saying, even though she did mean actually sleeping in her sentence.

“...Y-Yeah…” said Gladion, struggling to breathe himself. “If you want that.”

The silence was tense.

“...Yes,” Lillie admitted, and her heart beat quicker.

It was quiet for a moment, and then she heard Gladion get up from the couch and pad across the room. She scooted over in the bed to make room for him as he lifted the covers and laid down beside her.

“...Hi,” she said, heart beating in her ears.

“Hi,” said Gladion, trying to read her face in the dark but unable to.

Stillness for a few beats, both of them staring at each other in the dark. And then curiosity got the better of them. They leaned in toward each other at the same time and then they were kissing. 

This time it would be a real kiss, Gladion had decided, so he ran his tongue along Lillie’s lips and pried them open, slipping his tongue into her mouth to deepen the kiss, craving her in a way he couldn’t understand but wanting more nonetheless. He lost himself against her lips, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against him.

Lillie gasped; she had never been kissed like this. Mostly, she was shocked to find kissing like this felt really good. And maybe, because it was Gladion—

That’s right, this was Gladion!

She pulled back from him, shocked at herself. He was making the same face as her, wild-eyed even in the faint moonlight that trickled into the room.

“Should we stop?” asked Gladion, not knowing what else to say.

“I don’t know, but… I… I’m curious—I-I mean… I’m still… maybe I… don’t think I really want to.”

Relief surged through him.

“Me neither,” he said, crushing his lips against hers again.

Gladion had done plenty of drugs before, and so he felt confidently like he could describe kissing Lillie as similar to being on drugs, and fuck, he was high. Her lips were softer than he could handle; the taste of her tongue, so sweet.

When they pulled apart for air, he laughed.

“What?” asked Lillie, her breathing harsh and labored.

“It’s just—“ he laughed, lost in a delirious bliss, “I’m kissing my little sister.”

Lillie’s cheeks turned from their gentle flushed pink to bright red.

“We can stop,” she squeaked, hoping he wasn’t upset with her.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” he said, tipping his hand under her chin. “I just feel like I’m in a dream. I can’t believe this is really happening. I don’t know why this is happening. Maybe I’ve gone insane.”

“Well, you’re not alone with that, of course,” said Lillie in her matter-of-fact way she spoke, like when repeating a fact she had learnt in a book. “I also feel like I’m dreaming.”

“Maybe we are,” Gladion said, laughing again because his situation was just so hilarious to his better sense.

“You’re probably right,” said Lillie, catching herself smiling at him.

This was definitely like his dreams, maybe even better because he knew she was consciously consenting to him, not just some dream version of Lillie that did whatever his worst desires wanted.

“Yeah,” said Gladion, still holding her chin. He should stop this right now, but it was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to get higher on this new drug he had found. “Since we’re dreaming, do you want to keep kissing me, Lillie?”

Lillie shivered.

“...Yes.”

“Okay.”

Gladion grabbed her waist as their lips met again, pulling her against him. Such soft lips, and they were forbidden to him, which made them all the more sweet. Yes, this was his new favourite drug. Lillie gasped as she felt his hard cock press against her stomach through his thin pajama pants. Just slightly, he pressed his hips into hers.

“Sorry,” said Gladion, pulling back from her. “You probably think I’m fucked up.”

He thought he was fucked up, but she was so intoxicating he felt like he had been pushed into another reality where their behavior was normal. Or maybe the reason he was fucked up was because he didn’t care.

“No, I don’t,” said Lillie, tentatively touching the side of his face and stroking the back of his neck. He was her precious big brother, after all. She adored him, and she could never think of his affection for her as fucked up. “That just means you like it, right?”

“Yeah,” he whispered, copying her gesture and gently rubbing the side of her face, careful not to agitate her bruise. He brushed her stray hair out of the way, swearing to himself over how beautiful she was. “I do really like it.”

“I like it, too,” said Lillie.

Was she really dreaming? Gladion pulled her into another kiss, and she thought for certain she was lost in a fantasy. Lillie melted into his lips, Gladion threading his legs with hers and tangling his fingers in her hair, holding the back of her head while he drank her in. They kissed until their lips were chapped, only separating for air.

They both caught their breath.

“Do you think we’ll regret this in the morning, Gladion?” Lillie asked, burying her face in his neck as she snuggled against his chest. His arms felt so warm wrapped around her, overwhelming Lillie with feelings of absolute safety she hadn’t realized she’d been craving. 

“I don’t know,” Gladion admitted as he held her tight. “I suppose there’s a good chance we might.”

Lillie was silent at that.

“Can you promise me you won’t be mad at me if that happens?” Lillie asked.

“Yeah,” said Gladion, rubbing her back. “I promise, Lillie. Do you promise you won’t be mad at me either?”

“I promise,” Lillie whispered.

They fell asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms, wondering what was real.


	2. looks red, tastes blue.

Fractured sunlight spilled into the room, dancing across Lillie’s face. She blinked and yawned, struggling against dawning consciousness. She blinked again, eyes fluttering open to the view of the cracked ceiling of the motel room. Gladion was asleep beside her, his arm draped over her stomach. Lillie spent a moment of wonder studying his face, watching as the sunlight crept over his lips and eyelashes, creating patterns over his features. If her memory didn’t betray her, she had crossed a forbidden line with him last night.

‘Gladion… what did we do?’

Memories of his lips on her lips, his tongue on her tongue, played like an illicit movie in her mind. Part of her wondered if it really was a dream, but it felt so vivid, and so warm. Peace washed over her as she realized that she was safe in Gladion’s bed, just the two of them, like they had left Alola for their own little world. She was aware that she shouldn’t feel content that she had kissed her brother like a lover would and slept in his bed pressed against him the same way, but for some reason those harrowing facts weren’t disturbing her. She knew that wasn’t normal, and probably not okay, but...

‘But then… why do I… feel happy to be with him…’

Gladion blinked, as if in sleep he could feel her staring at him. He groaned into the pillow, squinting in the flecked sunlight that streamed into the room.

“...Hey,” he mumbled, still half asleep.

“Good morning,” said Lillie, watching him carefully, almost expecting him to push her away.

He tightened his arm around her waist, making Lillie blush.

“How’d you sleep?” he asked, yawning, his blonde hair even messier than normal. Why did he look so cute all of a sudden? Certainly she had never noticed that her brother was so good-looking.

“Good,” said Lillie, and she meant it, feeling heat rise in her cheeks. “I had the strangest dream.”

She held her breath, wondering how he would react.

“Oh yeah?” Gladion asked, rubbing his face to wake up. “What about?”

‘Is… Is he joking?’ she thought, breathless.

“About… I… I mean, we—“

Gladion chuckled.

“I know what you meant. I had a strange dream, too.”

Lillie bit her lip.

“Why don’t you tell me what yours was about?” she asked, feeling nervous, like her heart was in her throat.

Gladion smirked, and then leaned over and pressed a quick, gentle kiss to her lips.

Lillie gasped, staring at him with wide eyes.

“So it wasn’t a dream,” she said, not knowing how much she meant her own words. It still felt unreal.

“It wasn’t,” said Gladion, watching her curiously. “How do you feel about that?”

Nervousness gripped Lillie, not knowing how she should feel or what she should say, worrying that it would all be wrong.

“Well, I’m not… mad at you or anything,” said Lillie, remembering their promise to each other last night before they fell asleep. “And I’m not… upset about it. But I’m confused.”

Gladion smiled at her.

“Good. Me too,” he sighed.

“Really?” asked Lillie, surprised by this nonchalant reaction.

“Yeah. That’s also how I feel,” said Gladion. “We could just forget about it, if you want. We can let it be a dream. And absolutely no one can know this happened—you understand that, right?”

“O-Of course! I wouldn’t tell anyone. Maybe it’s better to just call it a dream… for now,” Lillie agreed, lifting her head and propping it up with her arm. “Until we have a better idea of how we really feel.”

When she lifted her head, Gladion noticed the bright purple bruise on her cheek.

“Ouch,” he said, grimacing. “Does that hurt?”

“A little,” said Lillie, embarrassed. “It’s not too bad.”

“I’m so sorry she did this to you,” Gladion said, sighing. “Fucking bitch.”

“She did apologize… well, she was about to, kind of...”

“Come on, Lillie, you don’t buy that shit from her, do you? That doesn’t excuse what she did. She hurt you,” he was begging for her to understand. “It’s okay for you to be mad at her. You should be mad. I’m fucking furious.”

“Don’t… Don’t tell her I told you,” said Lillie, suddenly wary. “I’m not going to tell her that I stayed here last night, either.”

‘She can’t know what we did.’

“Alright, it’s our secret. So is… our dream. I promise.”

“Okay, I promise too,” said Lillie, and she held out her pinky finger for him like she would when they were children.

Gladion locked his finger with hers, smiling. He remembered when they used to do this after stealing cookies from the pantry behind Hobbes’ back, or letting the Pokemon out to play when they weren’t supposed to. He felt so much affection for her that he thought about kissing her again, but he didn’t want to overwhelm her, so instead he stretched and then sat up in bed, grabbing his phone from the nightstand to check the time.

“It’s only eight o’clock. What time does Hobbes usually serve you breakfast?” asked Gladion, yawning.

“Not until ten on weekends, typically,” Lillie replied, sitting up as well. 

“Good, then I can get you home before anyone notices,” said Gladion. He got up and dug through the pile of clothes at the foot of his bed for something to wear.

“I hope Mother’s not there,” said Lillie, staring at her lap. “I don’t want to see her.”

“She’ll probably be at Aether Paradise, don’t worry,” said Gladion.

He grabbed a pair of ripped jeans and a band tee out of the pile and went to the bathroom to get changed.

“What will you do today?” Lillie asked him.

“Work,” said Gladion from the other side of the bathroom door. 

“For Team Skull?” asked Lillie, looking around his room. It interested her that he didn’t keep many possessions. There was a bass in the corner of the room, plastered with punk rock and emo band stickers. Lillie wondered how often he played.

“Yeah, Guzma fucking thinks that. I work for myself,” Gladion grunted.

“Doing what?” asked Lillie, playing with her hair while she listened to him shuffle around in the other room.

Gladion sighed. He wouldn’t lie to her, but she wouldn’t like his honest answer.

“Selling weed, mostly,” he told her, coming out of the bathroom while pulling the t-shirt over his head. He looked at her, trying to watch for her reaction.

“I figured you did something like that,” said Lillie, interlocking her hands on her lap. Selling drugs seemed scary and dangerous to her, but she supposed that was because of her mother’s conditioning to be a good girl and a lady. “Aren’t you worried about getting caught?”

“No,” Gladion replied, laughing. “The police on these islands are a joke. Nanu is one of my customers.”

“The kahuna of Ula’ula Island?” asked Lillie, shocked.

“Yeah,” said Gladion, starting to pick up some of the trash off the coffee table and throwing it in the garbage. “Lazy old bastard. He should hand the position off to someone younger, but then he wouldn’t have any reason to get out of bed.”

Lillie considered this. She wasn’t happy about Gladion working for Team Skull, but she supposed he knew that, and she couldn’t tell him not to. She doubted she knew better, anyway. After all, she was miserable living the life her mother forced her to live. Perhaps Gladion had the right of it by rebelling and running around with a gang like Team Skull.

“Just be careful,” said Lillie. She climbed out of bed and grabbed her clothes, heading to the bathroom to change. “I don’t want anything happening to you.”

“I’ll be fine, Lillie,” Gladion mumbled, assembling the trash. He gathered it all up in a trash bag that he put by the door, then looked over at the pile of clothes at the foot of his bed. He should take care of that next, but he didn’t feel like it. He sat on the couch and looked through his texts, seeing who needed to buy from him today. 

There was a message from his best friend Oliver letting him know there was a party at the Shady House tonight. Maybe he would go to that and let off some steam. He would need to get fucked up to deal with the night he just had, that was certain, but he forcefully pushed those thoughts away. Lillie had said she just wanted it to be a dream, so he would treat it like a dream and not get too wrapped up in it.

A couple of his usual customers had hit him up in the middle of the night, asking if he would be around today. It looked like he was going island hopping to meet up with everyone. He sighed. Every day of his life he was reminded how much he fucking hated Alola.

Lillie came out of the bathroom in her white sundress and pink hoodie, braiding her hair.

‘Well…’ he thought, unable not to notice her unearthly beauty. There was a reason he hadn’t left Alola yet.

“That bruise looks awful,” said Gladion, pained to see Lillie’s lovely face tarnished by their mother’s wrath. “You’re stronger than you think, Lillie. It takes toughness to deal with that.”

Lillie’s cheeks flushed pink.

“T-Thanks… I’m trying to tell myself that… or something,” she replied, sighing. She was making it up as she went along, and truth be told she was terrified of her mother.

“You know that no matter what happens, you can come back here whenever you need, right?” asked Gladion, turning serious. “If you’re scared of Mother or something, you should come here. I’ll protect you.”

‘And kiss me more, Gladion?’ Lillie thought, her cheeks on fire.

“Thank you… big brother,” she said quietly, finishing her braid.

“Ready to go?” Gladion asked, getting up. He fought off feelings of shame and embarrassment at hearing her address him like an innocent little sister would.

‘You’re not so innocent,’ he thought, and it made him feel a little better. ‘You kissed me, too.’

“Not really, but I suppose I have to,” said Lillie. “How are we getting there?”

“Riding Silvally, of course,” said Gladion, and there was a semblance of a smile on his face. “The best way to travel.”

Lillie smiled, too. Gladion’s bond with Silvally had always made her happy, and seeing the look on his face now when he thought about traveling with his beast partner was no exception. It was good for him to have a Pokemon that he loved and trusted so much. The way he was so kind to Pokémon helped her to know in her heart that her brother was good and sweet, even when he tried to act like he was too tough to be those things.

“Okay,” said Lillie. “I’ll enjoy the ride home, at least.”

“Let’s go.”

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Lusamine’s day always started the way she preferred; she made sure of that. Every second needed to be carefully curated in her beautiful little world. That was the only way that she could be sure her life was perfect.

She awoke to classical music, only her favourite scores. She checked the notifications on her phone after properly waking up, ignoring work first thing in the morning and only responding to personal messages, hoping there wasn’t anything from her kids. In a timely manner a butler would bring her breakfast in bed: two eggs, sunny-side up, and wheat toast with jam. She also enjoyed black coffee with only one sugar and absolutely no trace of cream of any kind.

While she ate her meal Lusamine put on the news on the gigantic television in her bedroom, watching about twenty minutes from her grand four-poster bed, checking the weather (hot, sunny, and perfect) and current events. After breakfast, she took a shower and put on an outfit that made her feel glamorous and powerful, colored in primarily black and white, as was her signature style. Aether Paradise was her perfect little world, after all, and her appearance was no exception to the rules of her paradise. She listened to classical music while she did her makeup and dried her hair, telling herself that it would be a perfect day. The sun on the surface of the ocean outside of the grand windows in her opulent bathroom told her no different.

“Good morning, Wicke,” said Lusamine as she entered the office area of the manor, enjoying the powerful sound of the clicks of her heels on the marble tiled floor.

“Good morning, Madame President!” Wicke chirped, peppy and on top of things as always. “I’ve already put a few proposals on your desk for you to review, at your leisure.”

Lusamine smiled at her. It was simultaneously a wry and elegant smile.

“Always so on top of things, Wicke. That’s what I like to see from the Assistant Branch Chief,” said Lusamine, glad things were already going as smoothly as she could expect. “Is Professor Burnet here?”

“She phoned in saying she would be a little late this morning. Troubles getting her little ones ready for daycare, I believe,” said Wicke, adjusting her glasses.

Lusamine stiffened and raised her eyebrows.

‘That’s hardly an excuse,’ she thought, offended. ‘I’ll find a way to punish her for this.’

“Well, maybe she can stay late to make up for the lost time,” said Lusamine, heading to her desk and sitting down in the luxurious office chair she occupied throughout the day.

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon,” Wicke replied noncommittally.

‘She had better be, or it’s her job on the line,’ thought Lusamine as she booted up her computer.

Lusamine took her work at Aether Paradise very seriously, and she expected the same from her employees. The Foundation was her empire, her image, her baby. She had grown and nurtured it herself from the bottom up, back from the days when she and her late husband Mohn were Pokemon biologists in a run-down laboratory in Galar, dreaming of opening up their own facility. Every day at Aether Paradise was her dream come to life, and she wouldn’t let anyone hinder her efforts in continuing to make her dreams come true.

If Burnet and that insufferable Faba were doing their job well, Lusamine wouldn’t be in the position she currently resented, which was debased, begging for help from Kanto’s Silph Co. for production of a Beast Ball with the catch rate of a Master Ball, which Lusamine had deemed essential in her quest to control the Ultra Beasts. The problem was that the CEO of Silph Co., Raphael Ferro, preferred to work only with family, as he had inherited the company from his own father and intended to pass it down to his children after him.

Lusamine had a plan for this, of course, though she lamented that it wouldn’t be as fool-proof as just sleeping with him as she had originally intended; alas, he was deeply in love with his wife (what a bore), and wouldn’t be easily seduced. He did, however, have a son, Victor, who was her own Lillie’s age. Raphael had mentioned several times that he hoped to arrange a marriage for his son with a young lady from a respectable family, and Lusamine was certain that if she could arrange this marriage with Lillie, Aether Paradise would be guaranteed full access to Silph Co.’s research and resources. 

As to be expected of her grand designs, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Lillie was poised to be a debutante in Alolan society this year, and Lusamine was already scheming to make sure that Victor would be the one to escort her daughter during her presentation. There was the fact that Lillie was quite disappointing as a young lady, true; not much to look at and not particularly charming, either, but Lusamine was certain that she would be able to make the match, even with her daughter’s glaring disadvantages. Plus, if Lillie moved away to Kanto with her new husband, Lusamine would barely have to deal with her anymore. Lillie would be someone else’s problem.

“Sorry I’m late!” called a disheveled Burnet as she rushed into the office. “This morning was just… ugh, well, it was a lot.”

“Good to see you, Professor!” Wicke greeted her.

“Good morning, Professor Burnet,” said Lusamine steely. “There is much to do today.”

“I know, I know; I’m so sorry,” said Burnet, hastily swinging her bag onto her desk and unzipping it, looking for her computer. “The kids are just at such tough ages; oh, you must remember, Madame President, don’t you? Tyce is four and Logan is two and they’re just such a handful. Tyce wouldn’t get dressed, and Logan threw cereal all over the floor right as we were about to head out; and then I forgot I had taken out the car seats yesterday and had to put them back, and, ah. I’m rambling, sorry, but you know, motherhood is a test.”

Wicke nodded understandingly, but quite honestly, Lusamine didn’t remember what it was like in those days for her, mostly because she had never really participated in it. She had hired a nanny to do these unpleasant tasks with her children for her, because she had the money and good sense to.

“Well, I’m sure you won’t mind staying a little late,” said Lusamine, scanning her email with a disinterested side-eye at Burnet. “Just to make sure we’re on schedule with these tests for the upgraded Beast Ball.”

Burnet looked put out.

“W-Well, I would, but I told Jason I’d pick the kids up on my way home…”

“I see. Very well,” said Lusamine with acid dripping in her voice.

“M-Maybe Jason can do it… I’ll call him on my lunch break and let him know,” said Burnet with a forced smile.

“Excellent,” said Lusamine, her manicured fingers tapping at the keyboard as she responded to emails. “Mr. Ferro is currently quite unwilling to let us look at his data on Master Balls, so we’ll have to work twice as hard if we want to reach our goal by the two month deadline we proposed in the quarterly meeting.”

“Oh, Mr. Ferro is so lovely, isn’t he?” prattled Wicke as she stood over a copy machine which buzzed under her fingers. “He’s going to be at the White Party with his family, correct, my lady?”

“Indeed he is, Wicke,” said Lusamine, pleased that she had made such an arrangement. “I know you look forward to the Foundation’s social events.”

“I do!” chirped Wicke dreamily. “It’s so fun to see everyone all dolled up. And the caterers you hire are just superb! I mean that Magikarp filet from last year? Delish!”

Lusamine was hit with a brief memory of dress shopping with her daughter the day before, and she grimaced, shoving it away. 

‘Mohn, why did you leave me with these wretched children I never wanted? I swear to God, every day I just think…’

Just then, she got a text. All business, she opened her phone to find the message was from Guzma.

‘Probably not business if it’s from him at this hour…’

She opened the attachment and wasn’t the least bit surprised to see a picture of Guzma’s erect penis in his hand. The photo came with the caption:  _ Thinking about you in my bed when I woke up this morning, beautiful. _

Lusamine rolled her eyes, putting the phone face down and returning to her email. She didn’t know why she bothered with Guzma and his useless gang anymore, even if his penis was quite pretty. Laundering drug money for Team Skull in exchange for a cut of the profits was a useful side business, she supposed, even if that half-assed gang was largely inept and tiresome. This side business was how she had gotten involved with Guzma in the first place, and now the deadbeat was hopelessly in love with her, as she should have expected despite its inconvenience.

She had her fun with him, of course; fooling around with him wasn’t completely without benefit for her. He wasn’t half bad in the sack. She’d answer his text some time tonight when it suited her; he should know better than to send her dick pics when she was at work, even if she did find it the slightest bit brazenly charming.

A few minutes of musing was more than enough to spend on Guzma, so Lusamine shook her head and went back to her work. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It was like he couldn’t ever remember being this horny. Gladion was in agony during his deliveries for the day, detached from conversation and more irritable than he normally was in his general depression. He kept dropping things, too, stumbling around like an awkward Psyduck because he couldn’t focus on what he was doing. It was like suddenly his world had crumbled and all he could think about after last night was Lillie.

‘We kissed. I kissed my little sister. We fucking kissed a lot.’

And that wasn’t even the worst of it.

‘She felt so good… and I… fuck… I… I want her.’

Yes, it was that. The fact that he wasn’t done. It was supposed to be a dream; a freak accident; a once in a lifetime moment of weakness. But all he could think about was kissing Lillie again, and all that mattered to him now was how to get her back in his bed so that he could do even more immoral things to her.

‘I’m so fucked. I’m so fucking fucked up.’

He threw his backpack on the floor when he got back home to the motel in the afternoon, pacing around the room and running his hands through his messy hair. Should he? No. He shouldn’t. He should put all of this out of his mind right now.

Fuck. He couldn’t. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was no choice but to do what he needed to do.

Sighing, Gladion undid the fastenings on his jeans and kicked them off into the pile of dirty clothes on the floor. Feeling like his head was full and his ears were ringing, he climbed across the bed to his bedside table and pulled out a bottle of lube he kept for personal use.

‘Fuck.’

He had only allowed himself to masturbate to the thought of Lillie once before, after one of his dreams of her, and he had felt so paranoid and ashamed of himself afterward that he swore to himself he would never do it again. Yet, here he was, taking off his boxers while he delved into his fantasies, imagining she was in the room with him.

She was crying again in the scene he conjured up at first, wounded and coming to him for comfort like she had yesterday. How sweet it had been to him that he was the one she needed when she was hurting; of course, she had needed him to comfort her ever since she was a little baby. He would hold her, kissing the top of her head and telling her everything was okay. Then, when they were holding each other in bed together like they were last night, kissing, he would slip his hand under her shirt...

‘Oh, Lillie.’

Gladion moved his lubed hand up and down his cock, his eyes closed.

Lillie would be so soft, he knew from holding her in his arms last night, and he would finally be touching her breasts, then her bare stomach, tracing around her belly button, and down into her pants in between her legs. She’d let him take her clothes off in this fantasy—would she ever do that in real life? Fuck, he wanted to see her naked. He’d climb on top of her, naked too, and slide inside of her…

‘This is your sister you’re thinking about,’ came a scolding voice in the back of his mind as his hand slid up and down his cock, but another voice answered, ‘Exactly, she’s mine.’

‘Oh, Lillie…’

‘Big brother,’ he heard her say in his mind as he took her, and it only turned him on more when he knew he should be revolted; but, fuck, how could he when he had a sister as pure and beautiful as Lillie was? She had always been the center of his world, ever since she was born, and it seemed to him now as he pleasured himself that she was in fact meant for his taking.

Lillie’s moans got louder in his fantasies, and now that he was getting close they all broke apart and he saw just fractured scenes of sex behind his eyelids now, including Lillie sucking his cock, which drove him to the edge.

“You’re fucked up, Gladion,” he said aloud to himself when he finished, sighing deeply into his pillows. “You’re a fucked up human being.”

He took a couple deep breaths, then checked his phone. His texts reminded him that there was that party at the Team Skull estate tonight. Good. He needed to go there and get so wasted he forgot his name and the horrible things he still wanted so desperately to do.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

That evening, Lillie got out of the shower and dried her hair, putting on a white lace nightgown like she always wore at home. She looked at herself in the mirror as she brushed her hair, recounting her mother’s opinions about her body. Her slight form was drowned in the nightgown that, if anything, should be growing small for her, and she couldn’t process how her mother could think she was overweight. She lifted up the nightgown and inspected her waistline, turning to the side and thinking her stomach stood out a little unnaturally. Maybe she shouldn’t have eaten a second helping of salad at dinner. Or perhaps she should not have eaten dinner at all.

She sighed, brushing her hair, and resentful thoughts bubbled up in her stomach at how much she hated the white lace nightgown she wore, and she was angry that her mother had picked this out for her as with everything she owned. She thought that she should go shopping and buy some pajamas that an older girl would wear. Her mother may be able to police the things she wore to events at Aether Paradise, like the White Party coming up, but she shouldn’t have a say in what she wore in private.

The bruise on her cheek was a sickeningly bright purple, and Lillie grimaced, thinking about what an ugly face she was making on top of how disgraceful she looked with that horrible mark on her. Gladion had told her to feel angry, but she could only feel sad. The bruise looked particularly bad this evening, and she hoped tomorrow it would be better and not even worse.

Hobbes delivered her a cup of tea and said goodnight, asking her again if she needed ice and if she was okay. Lillie felt badly, blushing and shooing him off, saying she was fine, thank you, Hobbes. How embarrassing. She wondered if Hobbes had a suspicion how she had gotten the bruise as she sat down to write in her diary, which was her nightly ritual.

_ Dear Diary, _

_ So much has happened that I don’t even know where to begin. Bad things, and good things, and… really confusing things. I know I’m supposed to write about how I feel in here, but what if I don’t even know how I feel? I think that might be the case this time, but I suppose I had better explain so that you can understand. _

_ It all started when Mother took me shopping at Ocean Lace Boutique yesterday. I hate that store, but she loves it because she knows the owners; they’re always invited to her fancy parties at Aether Paradise, and they’re always so rude to me. Anyway, I was trying on dresses that Mother picked out for me for the Debutante Ball and the White Party, and she was being so mean and insufferable, I simply couldn’t take it without speaking up. I told her that she was hurting my feelings, and she got really mad, so on the way home she hit me. It hurt a lot, and there is still a deep purple bruise on my cheek. It’s very embarrassing; I didn’t leave the house today because even my heaviest foundation wouldn’t cover it. _

_ Gladion says to be angry, but I don’t really feel that way. I just feel hurt that Mother would attack me, and I can’t help but think it might be my fault that it happened. I did raise my voice to her in the boutique… I don’t know. She hasn’t hit me since I was very, very small and would knock things over in her office when playing, so I wonder why she suddenly did it again. I guess I upset her really badly… _

_ Anyway, that’s the bad thing. I still feel… shaken up over it, but I don’t really know how to process it any more than that. I’m sorry if that’s vague. The good thing is that I was crying when I got home from the boutique, and I decided I didn’t want to be in the manor anymore because I was so scared of Mother, so I called Gladion and he said I could come over to his place. My good, sweet Gladion. He comforted me and called Mother a lot of really nasty names. He says everything is her fault and that she doesn’t know how to love anyone. I don’t know if that’s true, and it doesn’t really help to believe it, because even though that absolves me of being responsible, it still means that my mother is a terrible person. I don’t want to believe that, either. I want us to be a happy family, but I don’t know if that can ever happen. Mother’s never around and… I don’t know… maybe Gladion’s right about her. _

_ But this is where things get confusing. When Gladion was comforting me, we kissed. On the lips. I think it was an accident? I don’t know. I don’t think I kissed him, but I might have, and he said he also wasn’t sure if he had kissed me. But then how did it happen? I don’t know. It made me so confused because it felt really good, but he’s my brother! I was sure it was a mistake, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it… so I told him that I kind of liked kissing him when we were going to sleep and he said that he felt the same way. He asked me if I wanted him to get into bed with me (he was sleeping on the couch while I was in his bed) and I said yes. I’m wondering now if that was bad of me. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. I say that because when Gladion laid down next to me, we kissed a lot more.  _

_ It definitely wasn’t just an accident at that point. We kissed very intimately, with tongue and everything, and we both admitted that we liked it. I even felt him… get hard against me. I can’t believe it even now as I’m recounting it here. What’s even more unbelievable is that I did really like it, and I even think I would do it again if he asked me to. _

Lillie stopped writing then, her hand shaking. She looked into the little vanity mirror on her desk and saw that her face was flushed, and there was a bundle of nerves in her belly like a group of Caterpie all jittering around. She took a deep breath and then drank a sip of her tea, refocusing on the page in front of her.

_ I know that’s really bad. I know it also probably doesn’t make any sense. It certainly doesn’t make any sense to me, but I really liked kissing Gladion, and I keep thinking about it, even right now. It was so nice to wake up in his arms this morning, feeling safe and… loved. I think. I’m not sure if he loves me, but it really felt that way. _

_ How beautiful it would be to be loved by Gladion… _

_ But he’s my brother! That’s the problem. Of course we can love each other like family, but then we shouldn’t be kissing like that, right? Brothers and sisters don’t do that... _

_ I don’t know. Maybe I’m going crazy. Gladion said we could forget about it and pretend like it was a dream if I wanted. I said I thought we should do that at least for now until we can think about it more. _

_ I wish I had more to say about how I feel, but I just don’t know what that even is. I wish I could say I wasn’t happy about this, but the fact is, when I woke up in Gladion’s bed this morning with him knowing that we kissed, I felt happy. _

Lillie chewed on her quill, tapping her free hand on the desk. She didn’t think she had any more to elaborate on her feelings, so she put down the quill and closed her diary and locked it, putting it away in the desk drawer she always kept it in.

She took another sip of her tea and checked her phone, going to her text messages and clicking on Gladion’s name. She wanted to talk to him, but she didn’t know what to say. Was he also thinking about her? That would be nice if he were. Or would it? They had agreed that their tryst should be just a dream, so maybe he had already forgotten about it. That thought didn’t feel nice. In fact, it felt much better to imagine that Gladion was also missing her. Lillie shook her head at that, continuing to drink her tea down to the bottom and surfing the web on her phone until she felt tired enough to go to sleep.

Turning off the lights and crawling into bed, Lillie thought about Gladion again. It felt so comforting falling asleep with Gladion last night that she pretended he was with her as she cuddled into her pillow. She could almost remember the smell of his sheets, and it calmed her restless heart.

‘What’s wrong with me?’ she thought, simultaneously comforted and haunted by thoughts of her brother as she drifted off into her dreams.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Not all Team Skull parties turned into ragers, but this one was certainly seeming like it was going to be a night to remember. A group of grunts had installed a globe light on the ceiling, and it made neon rays of color bounce in electric patterns across the walls and furniture as the very building seemed to sway to the music. A DJ was set up in the corner, some scrappy kid wearing a snapback with the Team Skull logo spray painted on it in signature silver paint, a collection of chains jingling on his chest as he bopped back and forth to the music that blared from his laptop. A group of girls had taken off their tops and were dancing in the middle of the room in their bras and skimpy ripped shorts, cheering and spilling alcohol all over the already stained floor.

Gladion swirled his drink in his cup, bored. He had texted Oliver several times wondering where he was but his friend wasn’t responding and Gladion hadn’t been able to find him at the party. Oliver was really the only one he wanted to hang out with, so Gladion sat by himself on the couch in the living room, listening to a couple grunts tell him how sick their battling skills were so that he could smoke their weed while he listened to them ramble.

“My Trubbish’s stats are like, maxed,” said one of the grunts, taking a drag off a blunt. He coughed, a little too close to Gladion for his comfort. “Like, I gotta work on training him up a bit, but he’s got the potential to absolutely destroy any opponent in battle. I think he’s the strongest Pokemon I ever met. He’s my fucking dude.”

Gladion fought the urge to roll his eyes. He grabbed the blunt that the kid passed him and took a hit. He was already very high, but it wasn’t enough to stop thinking about having sex with Lillie. Being in bed with her was all he could think about all day, and he kept going over their makeout from last night in his mind, remembering the dizzying high he got from her kisses. She was on his lap in his mind, naked (and, oh, fuck, was she beautiful), her long blonde hair half covering her breasts, which he squeezed and kissed while she titled her head back and moaned. Fuck. He took another hit of the blunt before passing it to the other grunt beside him.

“I don’t know, man, it’s just a regular old Trubbish,” said the second grunt, though he studied his friend seriously.

“You’ve gotta see us battle!” shouted the first grunt to Gladion and his friend over the music. “I know you’d be impressed. You’d be like, yeah, that Pokemon’s sick.”

Gladion stared at his phone, texting Oliver asking him again where he was. He thought about texting Lillie, but he didn’t know what he would say to her.

“Yo, Gladion, we should have a battle so you can see how dope my Trubbish is,” said the grunt, continuing to go on and on bragging about his Pokemon.

But Gladion wasn’t paying attention. He was kissing Lillie in his mind, nibbling on her lips and stroking her waist while she pushed against his hips, teasing his hard cock. Fuck!

“I’ve gotta get another drink,” said Gladion, ignoring the grunt and getting up.

“Yeah, that’s cool, man. We’ll have a battle some other time,” said the grunt as Gladion walked away, and he almost felt a little badly because the kid was so good-natured.

This particular young grunt was absolutely an example of one who should be out on his island challenge, not in Team Skull. But Guzma was right when he pointed out the flaws of the island challenge, Gladion thought to himself. What did the kahunas do for the kids that felt like they couldn’t fit in? Nothing. No mentoring, no coaching or counseling; it was do things their way or drop out of the challenge. That’s where Team Skull waited with open arms for the outcasts.

Dodging half-naked girls and sweaty guys who were fist pumping to the music, Gladion headed toward the kitchen to grab another beer. Maybe if he got faded enough he could stop thinking about Lillie, but he didn’t feel hopeful. She had taken over his mind, and he kept thinking about how he could get her alone so he could kiss her again, and how fucked up he was for wanting that. Would she even want to kiss him again? Maybe she was regretting it right now as he cracked open another beer. Fuck, that thought made him miserable. How could he find out if she wanted him the same way?

Chugging his beer, he turned away from the fridge when a grunt smashed into him, practically knocking him over. Some of the beer splashed all over his chest.

“What the fuck, dude?” Gladion swore, groaning.

The grunt was wild-eyed—he was definitely on something, but he also seemed genuinely apologetic in a quite pitiful way that made Gladion even more irritated than if it were just the behavior of a belligerent asshole.

“Oh, shit! Sorry, sorry, dude—here,” said the grunt, and he dug in his pockets and pulled out a plastic bag with suspicious-looking, multicolored contents. “Have the rest of these, dude, they’re all for you—just forgive me, okay? I know you’re close with the Boss and it’ll never happen again; I swear!”

It all happened in a blur, but Gladion held up the bag of mushrooms and inspected them, figuring it was actually a pretty sweet deal.

“...Yeah, okay. Watch out next time,” said Gladion, and the grunt nodded profusely.

“Thanks, man. Yo! Team Skull for life!” shouted the grunt, who threw up a gang sign with his hand and scrambled over to a group of his friends hanging out by the fridge.

Exiting the kitchen, Gladion ate the mushrooms and stuffed the bag in his jacket pocket, washing them down with beer. Maybe the shrooms would make him feel fucked up enough that he stopped thinking about pushing his sister onto his bed and climbing on top of her.

He wandered back into the party, which suddenly seemed more crowded than it had before he went to the kitchen. That couldn’t be the effects of the mushrooms yet, so he figured all of Team Skull was simply in the mood to party tonight. He didn’t particularly feel like rejoining the grunts he had been talking to in the living room, so he decided to walk around and see what else was going on, hoping that Oliver would show up soon.

The front door opened as Gladion walked by and a crowd of Team Skull kids hoisted a keg into the house, to the tune of raucous applause from the party.

“Team Skull, yo!” shouted one of the grunts who had just brought in the prize.

“Team fucking Skull!”

“Fuck yeah!”

“The best who ever fucking did it, Team Skull! You fucking know it, bitch!”

Gladion decided to head upstairs away from the chaos. Chugging his beer, he scaled the steps, careful not to get knocked over by a couple of grunts who were sliding down the bannisters. Two other grunts were making out at the top of the stairway, the guy pushing the girl against the wall while holding her wrists, and Gladion wished that was what he was doing to Lillie at the moment. He could hear her moaning his name in his fantasy, and he had to shake his head to stop thinking about it.

The boy with no front tooth who usually guarded Guzma’s door, Skip, was drinking something toxic out of a solo cup on his own. He leaned against the wall, his lanky form looking odd to be sulking in such a way as he made sure no one tried to get into Guzma’s rooms.

It wasn’t often that Gladion had to look up to speak to someone because he was quite tall himself, but Skip was at least three inches taller than him.

“Is Guzma around?” asked Gladion. He didn’t particularly care, but he was bored enough that he wondered where the Boss was.

“Private party in his quarters,” said Skip, chugging his mystery drink. “Do you need something?”

“No, just curious,” Gladion said, taking a sip of his beer. He was getting pretty sick of this party. He shared a joint with Skip before a girl approached them, looking a little shy.

“Hey, Gladion,” said Sylvia, his ex-girlfriend of a few months now. She wore a tight black mini dress and a leather jacket, and she looked pretty, her crimson hair and messy bangs framing her face, but he didn’t care enough to tell her that.

“Hey. What’s up?” Gladion asked, trying to be nice.

“Not much. Enjoying the party,” she said, taking a sip of her drink.

“Yeah… it’s fucking crazy tonight,” Gladion said as cheers erupted from downstairs. Someone must be doing a keg stand.

“Are you having fun?” Sylvia asked him.

He didn’t really know what to say to that.

“Yeah,” he answered, half-heartedly. He didn’t really mean it. Truth be told, he didn’t want to be here at all. He kept thinking about Lillie, but she obviously wasn’t here, and that needed to stop. He looked at Sylvia and suddenly he had an idea. “You know what would make it better?”

And that’s how they started making out in the upstairs bathroom. It didn’t take a lot of convincing to get her going. Gladion had a sneaking suspicion that she still wanted to be with him. After all, he was the one who had ended their relationship because he had grown bored of her. She was a year younger than him and didn’t really have a better option in Team Skull, so of course she thought they were in love. As if. Gladion had never been in love with anyone, let alone Sylvia.

“I missed you,” said Sylvia, pulling away from his lips and kissing his jaw, trailing her lips down his neck. Her bright red lipstick left stains on his skin.

Gladion grunted noncommittally, wishing she would stop talking. He didn’t miss her; he just wanted to feel something, anything, for a girl other than Lillie. There was no magic in this kiss, made even more unappealing by their filthy surroundings. Bathrooms in the Team Skull estate weren’t exactly a romantic setting. He tried not to with everything in him, but it wasn’t long before Gladion went elsewhere in his mind, back to his motel room, in his bed with Lillie. His little sister trembled in his arms, her green eyes clear and angelic like a babydoll, blinking at him beneath featherly lashes and closing as she sighed into his kiss.

“Oh, Gladion,” moaned Sylvia, but Gladion heard Lillie’s voice.

“Shut up and kiss me,” he growled. She was ruining his fantasy. Actually, he had an idea that might be more exciting than this; might actually make him forget about Lillie’s kisses if Sylvia would agree to it. “You should suck my cock.”

“Yeah?” asked Sylvia, her red lipstick smeared onto her cheek. “You miss my blow jobs, huh?”

“Yeah,” said Gladion, putting his hand on the top of her head and pushing her down. “Come on.”

Sylvia knelt down on the grimy tiled floor, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. She peeled down the waist of his boxers and reached for his hardening cock, pulling it out and gently squeezing it in her hand. She applied a little pressure, moving her hand up and down.

“Use your mouth,” said Gladion, putting his hand on the back of her head and pushing her mouth toward him.

Sylvia opened her mouth and swallowed his cock, bobbing her head up and down while holding the base steady. Gladion kept his hand on the back of her head, carelessly pushing her head down when she pulled away. It should be too filthy to think about his little sister doing this instead, but he couldn’t control himself. Instead of Sylvia’s crimson hair tangled in his fingers he imagined Lillie’s pale blonde locks, and when he looked down he saw his sister’s nose and her soft pink lips wrapped around him, those pretty green eyes looking adoringly up at him as she sucked.

“Fuck,” sighed Gladion, closing his eyes, and Sylvia mistook it for pleasure, moving her head more vigorously back and forth and squeezing the base of his shaft.

Behind his eyelids, Gladion watched as Lillie ran her tongue along the length of him, tasting his most sensitive skin. He wanted to say her name, but he forced his eyes open, trying to make himself realize that it was Sylvia doing this to him, not Lillie.

Oh, how hot it would be to see his cum dripping from Lillie’s lips…

“I can’t do this,” Gladion said, putting his hands on Sylvia’s shoulders and pushing her away. “This isn’t working. Get off me.”

Her head bobbed off his cock, strands of her crimson hair sticking to the saliva on her lips.

“What the fuck?”

“I’m not into it,” said Gladion, tucking his cock away in his boxers and zipping up his pants.

“Fucking why? What did I do?” asked Sylvia. She wiped off her mouth with the back of her arm and stood up.

“Nothing, that’s the problem,” said Gladion. He was vaguely aware he was being a complete ass, but he was drunk and high and he had eaten mushrooms (oh, fuck, he had forgotten about that until just now), so he didn’t care. “I never loved you, Sylvia. You should find someone else.”

“What the fuck, Gladion!?” Sylvia screamed as he opened up the bathroom door. “You’re a fucking asshole!”

He slammed the door behind him, deciding he was going to leave this stupid party. Downstairs, the grunts were all still raging, music blaring and neon lights flashing throughout the estate, making him especially dizzy now that he was feeling the effects of the mushrooms he had ingested. Gladion was making his way out the front door, which spun like a fun-house carnival attraction, when his phone rang.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Gladion asked Oliver as he answered the phone. “I’ve been waiting for you at this stupid fucking party for ages and you never showed.”

“Sorry, man,” said Oliver, not sounding like he was particularly sorry. As usual, he sounded detached and far off, probably somewhere where he heard new music. “I was planning on coming over but then I got tied up in writing this song… inspiration just took me away. Are you still there? You should come over.”

Oliver lived in Po Town just streets away, so it wouldn’t be difficult to get to his place. Gladion didn’t really want to go home, either; the shrooms had just kicked in, and there was a slight slant to the street in his peripheral, pink dots glittering in place of the streetlights. It seemed a shame to waste it, and he was still filled with a nervous, agitated energy that he didn’t feel like would let him sleep well.

“Fine. I’ll be right there,” said Gladion, hanging up and turning down the street. He stared at his phone as he walked, noticing that it glowed more brightly than normal, the light even looking strangely beautiful, and he went to his texts, clicking on Lillie’s window and staring at it blaring in the night.

_ Hey _ , he sent her, struggling to spell correctly.  _ What’re you up to? Thinking about you. _

He would probably regret that in the morning, but in the moment it seemed like a good idea. He had the sense to put his phone away in his pocket before he wrote more that he would regret.

The street ahead of him appeared endlessly long, like it went on for miles out into the horizon, and the black tar of the street started to look and feel like water beneath his sneakers, so he moved onto the sidewalk, taking an unnecessarily dramatic step onto the curb, which almost made him fall on his face. Some Murkrow were picking at crumbs beneath a streetlight, their red eyes casting lasers into the night, and their cries sounded uncomfortably close.

Suddenly feeling really high, Gladion wobbled up Oliver’s front steps and knocked on his front door. Oliver lived with his dad, who was never home because he worked the night shift as a security guard at the hospital on Ula’ula Island. His mom had left them years ago, but Oliver was mostly well-adjusted, absorbed in his music. Gladion would describe it as ‘mostly,’ because Oliver also had a particularly bad drug problem. Still, the guy was his best friend, the only person Gladion would ever talk to about his feelings, which he kept locked tight in a vault inside his heart.

“Hey man, what’s up?” asked Oliver as he opened up the door. He dressed similar to Gladion, with ripped jeans and a frayed, striped sweater. “You look like you’re lit.”

“I’m pretty fucked up,” said Gladion, striding into the house. “You got any beer?”

“Yeah, man, I’ll get you one.”

They got their drinks and went to Oliver’s room. Oliver sat down on a beanbag chair and picked up his guitar while Gladion kicked off his sneakers and threw himself down on the bed.

“So, you’re writing a new song?” Gladion asked, taking a sip of his beer. The lava lamp on Oliver’s nightstand looked particularly pretty to his drugged mind, and he watched the globular orbs dance and reform.

“Yeah,” said Oliver, and he strummed a few chords. “Almost finished, actually. Inspiration really hit me tonight.”

“That’s cool,” mumbled Gladion, a little jealous.

Oliver wrote songs and played lead guitar in a local band, Destiny Bond. Gladion would mess with his bass every once in a while, mainly because of Oliver’s influence, wishing he could transmute his tortured feelings into music. He didn’t think he was creative enough, though, and would get frustrated and give up. 

“Yeah, I think it’s alright,” said Oliver. “I’ll have to make the guys give it a listen and see if it’s something they wanna add to. You’re coming to my show in a couple weeks, right?”

“Yeah, definitely,” said Gladion. “Wouldn’t miss it, dude. Have you been writing songs all day?”

“Nah, just since after dinner. I hung out with Acerola earlier.”

For about a year now, Oliver had been seeing Ula’ula Island’s resident Ghost-type expert and Trial Captain, a mysterious girl who had allegedly once been Alolan royalty. Acerola was a couple years older than Oliver, and seemed even more introverted than him, because Gladion didn’t see her often. He remembered that she lived at Aether House and wondered if she had ever met his mother.

“How are you guys?” asked Gladion, taking another sip of his beer. 

“We’re good,” said Oliver, strumming on his guitar. It slightly bothered Gladion that even when messing around, Oliver’s music sounded appealing. “She’s like the only person that really gets me, you know? She wants me to get clean, but… I don’t know, man. Shit’s a little bit more complicated than I think she understands.”

“Yeah,” said Gladion, not sure how to approach the topic of Oliver’s drug use. “I mean, could you do it for her?”

“For her?” asked Oliver, playing some chords. “Shit, I’d do anything, so maybe. How about you, man? Is that lipstick on your neck?”

Gladion spent a moment frantically trying to assess the damage before realizing he couldn’t see his own neck. Oliver laughed at him.

“Fuck. Yeah. I made out with Sylvia at that stupid party.”

“Sylvia?” asked Oliver, raising his eyebrows. “You’re still into her? I thought you said talking to her was like trying to have a conversation with a Psyduck.”

“Not at all,” said Gladion, sighing into his beer. “I was hoping she would distract me from… well… someone else.”

He had managed to forget about Lillie for a little bit, but she was back, straddling him on the bed and slipping her hand beneath his shirt, stroking his chest.

“Oh yeah? Who’s that?”

Gladion took another deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to dispel the vision of Lillie. He watched her smile behind his eyelids, her face bordered by falling flowers and trippy patterns, like the neon lights from the globe at the party. Gladion opened his eyes and looked at Oliver hopelessly, his friend’s face all fuzzy.

“I can’t say,” said Gladion, half mumbling. “Sorry.”

“Why not?” asked Oliver, even more curious now.

“I just… I can’t,” said Gladion, miserable. “You probably wouldn’t talk to me anymore if you knew. Just… don’t push it, okay? Who she is isn’t important.”

“If you say so, man,” said Oliver, strumming a few more notes. “You seem pretty messed up about it, though.”

Gladion felt frustrated that he couldn’t be honest with his best friend, but that’s how sick and deranged what he was going through was. There was no way he could admit he wanted to have sex with his little sister.

“I wanna fuck her so bad, Oliver,” Gladion whined, rubbing his eyes. “It’s all I can think about. I’m fucked up.”

“And you really won’t tell me who this girl is that you’ve got it so bad for?” asked Oliver again, pushing just a little. He put his guitar down and started gathering the materials to roll a joint.

“No,” said Gladion simply, with stubborness. “That’s the worst part of it all.”

“Is she part of Team Skull?”

“No,” said Gladion, almost laughing at the notion of Lillie being in a gang. “She’s a good girl. Innocent. She’s a virgin, too, I’m pretty sure.”

“And you wanna corrupt her?” Oliver laughed.

“No, I want her to fix me,” Gladion breathed, thinking of the relief it would bring to be happy with Lillie and leave his tormented feelings behind. “She can. She’s an angel.”

“I don’t know about that, man,” Oliver chuckled. “Relationships can’t fix you, that’s for sure. I mean, look at me.”

Gladion tried to focus on Oliver’s face, but he was seeing double, so he stared up at the ceiling, wandering a multicolored forest in his mind.

“I don’t know. She makes me smile,” he mumbled, brain melting into the pillows. “And I hate everything way less when I’m around her. I remember what it’s like to be happy.”

“Sounds like you’re in love,” said Oliver, his fingers working on assembling the joint.

Gladion grimaced. He couldn’t be in love with Lillie, could he? After all, she was his sister… sure, he loved her… she was probably the only person that he loved, when he thought about it. That was special, yes, but… he couldn’t be  **in** love with her. Absolutely not. This was purely about lust. He wanted her because she was gorgeous and off limits to him, and those were the only reasons.

“I think I just need her,” said Gladion, trying to push his thoughts about love away. It felt too weird, and too close to home, like shadowy hands were picking at the lock on his heart. “Maybe after I have her, I’ll feel better.”

Oliver shook his head.

“You said she’s an innocent virgin. What makes you think she wants to let some no good punk fuck like you sully her?”

That was a good point. Would Lillie want to have sex with him?

“She might not want to. Fuck,” sighed Gladion, feeling like he was floating out to sea on Oliver’s bed. Like a boat, the vessel skirted the waves and rocked gently through the water. 

Oliver laughed at him again, lighting the joint.

“We kissed,” said Gladion, remembering the mind-bending high from when his lips had been pressed against Lillie’s, his tongue stroking and tasting hers. “It was like… doing drugs, it felt so good. I need to kiss her again, at least.”

“Good luck, dude,” Oliver offered that to his friend, at least, even if he had no advice. He passed the joint to Gladion, who gratefully took it, inhaling as he felt the bed start to sink.

“Do you think you’ll ever leave Alola?” asked Gladion, changing the subject away from his dilemma. He simply couldn’t handle thinking about Lillie anymore.

“For travel or like, to live?”

“Either,” Gladion mumbled.

“I dunno,” said Oliver, taking a moment to think about it. “Acerola and I want to travel after we get married. Maybe we’ll decide we like some other region better and settle down there. But I wouldn’t mind staying in Alola, either. Maybe somewhere more quiet, like Poni Island. The countryside seems like it would be peaceful. You?”

“I dunno,” Gladion echoed him. “I think about it, but I don’t know if I ever could. Stuff keeps me tied down.”

“You think you’ll take over your mother’s company?” asked Oliver.

Gladion laughed.

“Aether Paradise? Fuck no,” he sighed. “Lusamine wouldn’t let me anywhere near it til she’s dead, and even then I have my doubts if she’d leave it to me. I don’t want that stupid fucking place anyway. They do all kinds of vile tests on Pokemon.”

“Like what they did to Null? I mean, Silvally. They still do that?” asked Oliver. He only knew a little bit about how Gladion had come to acquire his special Pokemon partner.

“Of course they do. They pretend like it’s a conservation, like they’re taking care of the Pokemon they bring there, but that’s a front for the fact that Pokémon are just test subjects to them. It’s like a goddamn torture chamber in there. Aether Paradise is bad news,” said Gladion, feeling disgusted by his mother.

He had a moment where he remembered how terrified and emaciated Type: Null looked when he had found it chained up in the lab, and the dreadful groans of pain from the creature that had its head encased in a metal helmet. Gladion shivered, shaking out his wrists as if they had also been in chains. That was the kind of person his mother was, to run a place that did those kinds of things to guiltless beings.

“That’s fucked up, dude,” said Oliver, puffing on the joint. “I see why you want nothing to do with her. Your mother, I mean.”

“Yeah, she’s a fucking piece of work,” sighed Gladion, remembering Lillie’s tears on his shirt last night, a result of one of his mother’s such wicked whims. He wanted to go to Lillie now, to hold her and let her know he was there, and he wasn’t going to let Lusamine put her hands on her ever again.

“Didn’t mean to make you upset, man,” said Oliver, handing him the joint. “You seem pretty put out. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Gladion, taking the joint from him. “I also ate some mushrooms earlier, and I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Damn, you ate mushrooms without me? Cold, bro,” said Oliver, shaking his head.

Gladion laughed.

“Some grunt just gave them to me and I figured why not,” he explained. “Next time we’ll eat them together.”

Oliver seemed satisfied with that, and the two friends talked until the early hours of the morning. Oliver even played some of his new song for Gladion, and Gladion gave him his opinions, inspiring Oliver to tweak a few of the lyrics. It wasn’t until four AM that Gladion realized there was no way he was making it home in the state he was in and asked to stay over.

“Will your dad care if I crash on the couch?” asked Gladion, sitting up in Oliver’s bed.

“Nah, that’s cool. Wouldn’t want you falling off the back of a Charizard into the ocean,” Oliver joked.

“Yeah, that would suck,” said Gladion, wobbling as he stood up. He swayed to the side as he headed to the living room, bracing himself on the doorframe.

“You good, dude?” asked Oliver.

“Yeah,” Gladion replied. “Just thinking about something you said earlier. About being in love.”

“What about it?”

“I think there’s a chance I might be, and it’s the most fucked up thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“Go to sleep, man,” said Oliver.

Gladion stumbled to the couch and pulled a throw blanket over himself, sighing into the cushions. He imagined he was cradling Lillie against his chest as he went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i got my muse back! hahhh, it's been a long month without writing but here i am. :) thanks as always to James for beta-ing & thank you to any one who's reading this, please leave comments! they fuel me. xo


	3. dangling from a cloud

Gladion was woken up at seven AM when Oliver’s dad got home from work. He heard the front door creak open and slam shut; two distinct thuds as shoes were removed; the jingling of keys being hung up by the door.

Gladion sat up on the couch, rubbing his face. Through blurry eyes he could make out Harry Wicker in his security uniform and holey socks.

“What is this, a fucken motel now?” asked Oliver’s father upon facing Gladion.

“Sorry, Mr. Wicker,” said Gladion, half-awake and still faded.

“Okay, whatever, Gladion,” Harry mumbled, heading to his bedroom. “Fucking homeless kids in this goddamn town.”

Gladion sighed and grabbed his phone, scrolling through his notifications. He winced when he realized he had texted Lillie at some point last night; and, whether worse or better he didn’t know, under the influence his message had come out as garbled keyboard smashing. Goddamn it. He was dizzy, but he didn’t feel comfortable staying in the Wicker’s living room after the greeting he just received, so he got up and laced up his sneakers, squinting into the bright morning.

“Fuck,” he sighed, stretching, as he shut the front door behind him.

It was sickly humid (oh, beautiful, tropical Alola!) and his dirty jeans stuck to his skin. He could still smell beer on his t-shirt. He needed a shower. But as he felt around in his jacket pockets for a ride pager, he realized there was another delivery he had to make in Po Town before he went home. 

‘The old man had better be awake,’ he thought, because he didn’t feel like coming back later today. 

Gladion was aware he was still tripping as he looked up at the sky and saw the moon and the sun together, swimming. It was a common enough occurrence, but something about the motion of these beings in the sky was off. Or maybe it was the fact that they were moving at all. He shook his head and cracked his knuckles.

Only a few streets away from Oliver’s place, Gladion knocked on the door of a shabby little green and brown house with the worst kept front lawn on the street, which was saying something in Po Town.

“Yeah, I’m here,” he heard a grunt from inside.

“Fuck, old man, it smells like cat in here,” Gladion complained as he entered the house. He wiped his feet on the doormat.

A couple Meowth ran by him, chasing each other’s tails. They pranced into the living room, doing a dance of deception around the coffee table and hissing at each other. Several more could be found asleep in various positions in the living room, notably one on the bannister that divided off the kitchen, its tail flicking back and forth like a pendulum. Only a floor lamp provided light in the darkened cottage rooms, and a newscaster’s voice droned dully from the television.

“Leave them be,” said Nanu from the kitchenette where he poured his coffee, in grey striped pajamas. His usual sandals had been swapped for slippers whose rubber bottoms clacked on the kitchen tile as he scuttled around for sugar. “They’re my guests.”

“Whatever, you crazy bastard,” mumbled Gladion, navigating across the cat-infested living room to the kitchen area. “I’ve got your usual order.”

“It’s about time, boy. I was looking for you yesterday,” grumbled Nanu. Although he complained, he opened his cabinet to retrieve an extra mug. “You look like shit. Have some coffee.”

Gladion actually laughed.

“Fuck, it’s too early and I wanna go home,” he whined.

“You’re going to sit your ass down and roll me a blunt, boy, so you might as well have some coffee.”

Gladion groaned, but coffee sounded helpful enough that he surrendered, and so he sauntered into the kitchenette and poured himself a cup while Nanu sat down at the shabby little table.

“You’ve been out all night, I take it?” asked Nanu, studying Gladion’s disheveled appearance.

“Is that against the law?” Gladion teased sarcastically. He heard the Meowth crying at each other as he mixed sugar and milk into his coffee.

“Bah. I’m not after you, boy. I’m old and I miss my youth, damn it. The least you can do is let me live vicariously through your galavanting,” Nanu grumbled.

Gladion rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I slept at Oliver’s place after a party at the Shady House,” said Gladion, sitting down at the table with his coffee. “They had a rager in there last night, if you weren’t aware. Kind of sucked, though, honestly. I didn’t have fun. Not much for galavanting.”

He didn’t tell the old man about the mushrooms he ate or the blowjob he got in the bathroom, but Nanu didn’t need to know about that. Instead, he took a swig of coffee, hoping the caffeine would set his scattered mind straight.

Nanu laughed and sipped his own drink.

“Yeah, I got a few noise complaints about that. Didn’t do anything about it, though. What do people expect? Guzma bought that house, if you can believe it. Not gonna hassle him when he’s not hurting people.”

Gladion shook his head. Obviously Nanu had left Guzma alone. He always left him alone, even when he was hurting people. The real fact behind it was that the island police departments knew Aether Paradise protected Team Skull, and, well, Lusamine had money in the island police departments.

“It was a stupid fucking party, anyway,” Gladion mumbled, still disgusted at himself for hooking up with Sylvia.

“Can’t imagine those Team Skull hooligans are much for conversation,” Nanu said, shaking his head too. He yawned. “Bah, go on, Gladion; roll an old man a blunt to have with his coffee, please? I’m trying to enjoy my morning.”

“Alright, alright, fuck; so impatient, sorry I’m half-awake,” Gladion mumbled. His mug made a loud clopping sound as he plopped it on the table. He dug in his pockets. “Here’s yours.”

Gladion passed Nanu a plastic bag with his weed in it, then took out his own bag and a pack of cigar rolls.

“You could use mine if you wanted,” said Nanu, watching him.

“It’s fine, old man.”

“Well, thanks,” said Nanu as he opened up his wallet and paid for his delivery.

Gladion went to work assembling the blunt. He didn’t often wake and bake, but since he was already still fucked up from the night before, he figured he might as well. He didn’t really want to be sober ever again, anyway, with his feelings for Lillie buried but creeping up through the dirt in his heart like the most strong and stubborn of weeds.

“I didn’t ‘rage’ much in my youth,” prattled Nanu, reminiscing. “Wasn’t much for the drink. I don’t like coke, either. Always preferred to get stoned and listen to some groovy records with people I actually liked.”

Gladion smiled while he broke up the flower. He didn’t really mind spending time with the old man, even if he would never admit it. Nanu had some amusing things to say and interesting opinions on life in Alola, and he never sugar-coated anything. Gladion had his suspicions that the old man knew Aether Paradise wasn’t all that it seemed, too, though he never wanted to be the one to bring it up.

“Yeah, I like listening to music when I’m stoned, too,” Gladion said. “Something makes it sound better.”

“It sounds the best when it comes from a vinyl record, and you shouldn’t forget it,” Nanu declared, nursing his coffee. One of the Meowth ran into the kitchen and curled up in his lap. “One day, I’ll show you my record collection. I’ve got all the great rockers in there. First pressings, too.”

“Vinyl’s cool,” said Gladion. “I’ll have a collection, too, one day; when I have my own place.”

“Music isn’t the same as it used to be,” said Nanu. “My first date with Melody, I took her to a rock concert. She hated it. Liked me well enough to give me a chance, though. Can’t imagine why.”

“Oh? Who’s Melody?” asked Gladion teasingly.

The cat on Nanu’s lap spread its glistening claws, licking at them.

“Who’s Melody?” Nanu echoed, and then he laughed, and took a big sip of his coffee. “She’s my wife, of course. The love of my life. The most beautiful girl that’s ever lived on these godsforsakened islands.”

Gladion looked up from what he was doing and studied Nanu’s face, noticing his eyes were misty and far away.

“Oh yeah? What happened to her?” he asked, maybe a little insensitively.

“She got sick,” said Nanu, and there was a somber tone evident in his voice. “Left me way too soon for Heaven.”

Gladion nodded, struck by a feeling of understanding and empathy for the old man.

“I’m sorry,” said Gladion, licking at the blunt as he sealed it. He wished he hadn’t asked, even though knowing it now affected his view of the sad old officer whose life seemed to be getting away from him.

Nanu kept his feelings for Melody locked up tight in his heart, and he felt his eyelids sting as he held back tears upon just saying her name. If he said much more, he would break down in front of his guest.

“Bah,” grumbled Nanu, wiping his eyes. “It was a long, long time ago. You ever been in love yet, boy?”

“Love?” Gladion asked shakily, and he laughed a little. “I don’t think so. I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No, I’m not talking about sex—although you won’t really know that either until you do it with the one you love. I’m talking about real love. When you know the girl in front of you is an angel, and that you’d die for her, although you don’t deserve her even looking at you.”

“I don’t think I’d want that,” said Gladion, uncomfortable. “Sounds painful.”

He finished his work and lit the blunt.

Nanu nodded.

“Real love is painful, boy. It consumes you. One day, you’ll know it. You just haven’t found your person yet.”

Gladion shifted his weight on his chair and passed the blunt to the old man. He didn’t love anyone, except for Lillie, and those feelings were becoming increasingly controversial for him over the past couple days. 

‘Fuck me,’ Gladion thought, and he took another sip of his coffee, praying that he wasn’t in for a hangover when he stopped still being drunk.

“A-Anyway,” Nanu sighed, swallowing the threat of tears. “Enough about an old man’s sad and lonely life. I want to hear about what young people do nowadays. Did you battle anyone at that party?”

“Nah,” Gladion laughed. “Those Team Skull grunts are fucking jokes. Kids on their island challenge kick their asses every day. I wouldn’t waste my time.”

Nanu passed the blunt back to Gladion.

“No wonder you didn’t have fun at that party if there weren’t any battles. A good battle is how to really get your blood going. I reckon those Team Skull kids just don’t know anything about Pokémon ‘cus they didn’t go on their island challenge like they were supposed to.”

“The island challenge isn’t for everyone,” said Gladion rebelliously as he took a hit. “I know you’re a kahuna so you have to put on a good show for Hala, but don’t pull that shit with me.”

Nanu chuckled.

“Forgive me if I’m getting the facts wrong, Gladion, but you went on your island challenge, didn’t you?” Nanu asked.

Gladion blushed.

“Yeah, I tried it out, after that kid—the one with the weird name, uh—Sun! You know, who helped out Lillie before? He convinced me to give it a go. It was kind of boring, though. Z-Moves aren’t everything; there’s a whole world out there that doesn’t use them.”

“Think about what you learned during that time, boy,” said Nanu. He took a deep drag of the blunt. “When you spent all that time with your partners, trying to achieve something together.”

Gladion shrugged.

“Any battle is good practice. There’s nothing special about the matches in the island challenge that will give your Pokémon any type of additional experience as opposed to doing it on your own,” said Gladion.

As far as he was concerned, he and Silvally had done it on their own, even if they did participate in the island challenge.

“Bah. If you do it right, the island challenge will bring you and your partners closer together, and you know that. Smart ass,” Nanu grumbled. “It’s just like an arrogant young man to think he knows everything about the world.”

“Whatever, old man,” sighed Gladion, standing. The table wobbled a little, which disturbed the Meowth, and they hissed at him. “I’ve got to get home and take a shower. I’ll see you in a couple weeks with another delivery.”

“Take care of yourself, Gladion,” said Nanu, puffing on the blunt while petting the cat in his lap. “Thanks for spending some time with a wretch like me.”

“Yeah, whatever. See ya,” called Gladion, and he left.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

_ Hey wgate upto? Thijding sbti yuoo lk8 _

Lillie had been staring at the mysterious text from Gladion all morning, trying to decipher it. She was delighted (oh, was that twisted to be so delighted?) that he had contacted her, but she had no idea what he was trying to say.

The sun was already bright in the sky above the ferry that she rode to Melemele Island, the water a clear royal blue. Lillie squinted at her phone screen in the glare of the Alolan sun, wondering what to reply. She couldn’t quite make out the second sentence of Gladion’s text, but she was pretty certain from the first part that he was just checking in with her. That had to be it. Most likely he wanted to know if their mother had said anything about what happened or had done anything else to hurt her.

_ Hi Gladion. I’m not sure what you mean? I’m fine though, and I still haven’t seen Mother,  _ is what Lillie decided to text back as the boat pulled into the port at Hau'oli city. Better to ask for clarification than to write the wrong kind of reply. She played with her bangs nervously, going over and over the scenario in her head. Why had Gladion sent her a text in the middle of the night?

‘Maybe he wanted to talk… about things,’ Lillie thought as she stood up to exit the ferry. There was an anxious skip in her step over thinking about those very things she expected he wanted to talk about. ‘Maybe he had something to say about… what we did.’

She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what they did for even a moment since she’d woken up beside him yesterday. He was all she thought about now, including frequent self-admonishments that she should stop, because she was enjoying her thoughts of Gladion holding and kissing her more. And every moment that she felt nervous (which was most of the time), she yearned for the safety of Gladion’s arms.

‘He’s your brother! This is crazy,’ Lillie said to herself as she headed along the dock to the city. ‘You shouldn’t have kissed him, Lillie—what were you thinking!? You shouldn’t have kissed him even for a second, and you absolutely cannot ever kiss him again, no matter what; no matter how much you want to.’

“Hey, Lillie!”

“Lillie!”

She looked up to see her friends Mallow and Lana across the city plaza, waving at her.

“Hello!” Lillie called. She waved, too, making her way over to them.

‘Be normal,’ she swore to herself, ‘and don’t think about Gladion!’

Her predicament with her brother was only one of the things she was worried about keeping wrapped up in secrecy when she was around her friends. Lillie wore quite a bit of makeup to cover the bruise on her face that she had received from her mother, and she hoped her friends wouldn’t think she looked weird being so dolled up for a casual shopping trip. It had been a while since she had spent time with Mallow and Lana, and she fretted about them making comments on her appearance.

“It’s so good to see you!” Mallow squealed, pulling Lillie into a hug. “You don’t hang out with us nearly enough!”

“I-I know, sorry,” Lillie muttered. Between her private tutoring, ballet lessons, and her duties around the house, she didn’t get out much. It didn’t help that she was shy and felt like nobody really liked her. All the people around her age she had met in Alola were always very nice to her, but she assumed it to be only general politeness, or because she was with someone important at the time, like when she traveled around with Professor Kukui, or even her own mother. “I guess I’m just kind of a homebody.”

“Hey, Lillie,” said Lana, grinning goofily. 

“Hey,” said Lillie, hesitating before hugging her, too. “U-Um, I hope you guys weren’t waiting too long for me.”

“No way, we just got here,” said Mallow. “Thanks for inviting us out for the day. You said you wanted to buy some new clothes? But you’ve always looked so cute, Lillie, like a little doll!”

“Thank you,” said Lillie, blushing; she knew Mallow meant it politely, but she also felt a little sick. Her mother’s doll; was that all she got to be in the world? Lillie didn’t want to tell her friends that in fact her mother had picked out all of the frilly white dresses she was known for, including the frock and skirt she was currently wearing. “I think it’s just time for a change.”

“I changed my style a couple years ago,” said Lana, shrugging. The blue-haired girl had always been a bit of a tomboy, but now she dressed in baggy clothes marketed to men. “I felt like I dressed more like a little kid before, you know, like what my parents would pick out for me. I get that you just want to feel different.”

“Yes, exactly,” said Lillie, relieved that someone understood her. “I just don’t really know what it is that I want, so I figured it would be good to have second and third opinions.”

“We’ll help you, Lillie!” said Mallow with blasé cheerfulness. She had no idea how stressful this venture was for her friend. “It’ll be so fun, come on.”

The girls headed off to the massive shopping district that Hau'oli city was known for. There would be all kinds of small boutiques that would have different items than the kinds of things Lusamine would pick out, so Lillie tried to be optimistic that she could find something that suited her.

Nothing caught her eye in the first few shops they visited, but Lillie had grown relaxed and gotten used to being social with her friends again in that time. She was more talkative with every passing moment; and she laughed, like she was a normal girl without the troubles that tormented her. It felt relieving to simply be herself, like a soft breeze in the fierce sun.

“I have to tell you guys something!” said Lana as the girls walked down the crowded streets. “I’ve been keeping it a secret until it was totally official, but I’m going to Johto in a month to visit my girlfriend!”

“No way!” gasped Mallow.

“That’s amazing!” said Lillie.

“I know! It’ll be our first time seeing each other in person,” said Lana, grinning wide and showing her dimples. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

“I’m so excited for you, Lana,” said Lillie.

“I’m so jealous!” Mallow squealed. “Every day, I wait for my Prince Charming to show up at the restaurant and whisk me away and every day it’s just the same old customers!”

“I told you to date online,” said Lana haughtily. “You’re not limited to just what Alola has to offer, you know. There’s a whole world out there.”

Mallow scowled and sighed.

“What about you, Lillie?” asked Mallow. “Anybody special in your life?”

Lillie felt like her heart sank into her gut. She wished she could tell her friends she had just spent the night in bed with a boy, kissing him and cuddling up to him, but because it had happened with Gladion, she couldn’t. She suddenly felt dirty.

“Uh, no… no,” Lillie said, shaking her hands nervously.

“I refuse to believe it!” Mallow pushed. “Aren’t you going to be presented at the Alola Debutante Ball? I’m so jealous you get to be a debutante, by the way; but there needs to be a handsome man to escort you at the party, right?”

“I, um, I don’t know anything about that,” said Lillie, distressingly apprehensive about the debutante ball. She hated to be reminded of it. “I’m only participating in the Ball because my mother wants me to, so I’m sure she’ll pick the escort.”

It made Lillie quite unsettled to realize this, but she supposed there was nothing she could do about it. Lusamine had all the control of her life, and it was choking the life out of her.

Lillie was glad this conversation ended when the girls entered another shop. A cute lime green door welcomed them off the hot concrete. Vines grew across the ceiling inside the boutique, and little fairy lights twisted up and down the walls, bordering the clothing displays. It was instantly welcoming.

“Alola! Welcome to Melemele Beach!” called the shop girl behind the register. She was decked out in clothing from the shop, and Lillie thought she looked very cool, and was certain she could never be as cool as her. Her spirit clammed up a bit, and she frowned.

The girls returned the greeting and started to look around. The style of this shop was particularly bohemian, with lots of long flowing fabrics and bright colors. Lillie loved the colors, but they made her a little nervous since she didn’t really know how she would look in them. Her mother hated color, so of course she wasn’t used to it.

“Lillie, check this out,” said Mallow after a few moments. She picked up an oversized coral sweater with a wide neck. “This would look amazing on you!”

Lillie looked up, and was surprised that she actually found the color of the top quite pretty.

“Oh, wow, I actually really like it,” said Lillie timidly.

“Here, try it,” called Mallow, and she passed the sweater to Lillie, who held it up against herself in the mirror. 

Lillie didn’t know much about fashion, but she loved the color and softness of the yarn, and she was certain her mother would never pick it out (Lusamine would probably say something like the drapey shape of the garment was ‘sloppy’). Trying to be brave and get the ball rolling with her shopping mission, Lillie made a quick executive decision.

“I’ll take it,” said Lillie happily, and her friends cheered. Lillie felt proud of herself for picking something.

As the girls shopped around the boutique, Lillie received a text message. She gasped when she saw it was from Gladion.

_ Sorry, I was kinda fucked up last night. Didn’t mean to text you nonsense. Just making sure you’re okay _

Lillie read it over a few times, and then another text popped up.

_ What’s up? _

Her heart beat in her chest. It was just Gladion texting her, so why was she a mess? She scrambled to write a reply.

_ Thank you for checking on me. I’m just out shopping with my friends. What about you? _

“Who’s that, Lillie?” asked Lana.

“Yeah, you just totally zoned out into your phone,” Mallow laughed.

“Oh, um, it’s, uh… just Gladion,” said Lillie, and she hoped that her friends wouldn’t notice that she turned bright red.

What would they think of her if they knew what she had done with her brother? Certainly they wouldn’t want to be her friend anymore. Lillie swallowed and decided to take the items she had picked out into the fitting room to hide.

“Oh, are you trying on now, Lillie?” asked Mallow.

“Come out and show us outfits,” said Lana.

The girls sat on a couch outside of the fitting room to wait and watch.

“Okay!” Lillie called out, a little stressed. Shopping with her friends was a lot less challenging than shopping with her mother, but she was still apprehensive about how the clothes would look on her body, which she was certain was all wrong, because she had been told so before. She frowned at herself in the dressing room mirror and took a grounding breath.

‘You can make your own decisions about what you like, Lillie,’ she told herself as she worked on getting off her skirt. ‘You don’t need Mother’s opinions.’

Her phone made two trilling noises while she got changed and showed off her outfits to her friends, but Lillie told herself to wait before reading the texts. All she wanted was to talk to Gladion, but she tried to remind herself that she was out with company and shouldn’t be on her phone.

Lillie frowned at herself in the mirror again. The purple dress she had just modeled was a little too boisterous for her tastes, so she set it aside in the fitting room and decided to try something different.

She pinched at her stomach, and as she got changed in the mirror she couldn’t stop hearing her mother’s voice criticizing her.

“I can’t wait until I can finally kiss my girlfriend,” said Lana from outside the fitting room. She was scrolling through her girlfriend Tia’s Instagram and showing pictures to Mallow while they waited for Lillie to change. “It’ll be my first kiss.”

Mallow rolled her eyes.

“My first kiss was with Kiawe, and he was horrible!” she whined to Lana’s raucous laughter. “He slobbered all over me like a Lickitung!”

“It’s honestly so fucking funny,” said Lana, shaking her head and giggling.

Mallow steamed. She seeked to divert attention from her romantic life immediately.

“What about you, Lillie? What’s the best kiss you’ve ever had?”

Lillie came out of the fitting room wearing blue denim cutoffs and a lacy, light green tank top.

“Okay, stop, you look awesome in this!” Mallow cried. “The green really brings out the color of your eyes!”

“I really like it, Lillie,” said Lana, looking up over her phone.

Lillie stared at herself in the mirror, not recognizing herself, and blushing furiously from the compliments from her friends, who she was sure were just being nice. Still, Lillie didn’t think she looked horrible. Her mother would despise this outfit, calling it too casual and cheap-looking, but that only made Lillie like it more.

She turned to her friends with a smile.

“You guys think I should get it?” asked Lillie.

“Uh, yes!”

“Definitely.”

Lillie nodded.

“Okay, thank you so much for your help. What were you asking me?”

“About your best kiss,” said Mallow.

“You had to have one better than Mallow’s,” said Lana, still laughing.

Lillie turned pink.

“I—I, uh…”

She panicked.

“I had a very nice kiss… um, recently,” she mumbled, and practically whispered the last word.

“Uhh, recently!?” Mallow shouted and her jaw dropped into her lap. “I thought you said there were no guys in your life!”

Lillie disappeared into the fitting room to put her clothes back on while her friends showered her with questions, her cheeks alight with shame.

“T-There isn’t! It was just a kiss,” she said defiantly.

Lillie was trying desperately to convince herself it was just a dream like she and Gladion had decided, but she was starting to become aware that the wish for it to be a dream was just a lie she was telling herself to cover up her true feelings.

“Tell us everything, Lillie!” Mallow exclaimed.

“Wait, so who’s the guy?” asked Lana.

“Yeah, who is he!?” Mallow echoed.

Lillie wished she hadn’t said anything, and her heart pounded in her chest as she scrambled back into her clothes.

“U-Um, I, uh… it’s a s-secret?” Lillie stuttered. What was she saying?

“A secret!?”

“Are you kidding?”

“I, uh… I’d rather not say who it is,” said Lillie, fully aware she was a blushing madwoman as she exited the fitting room to face her friends with her arms full of the clothes she liked. “Please.”

The girls were speechless for a moment, but then Lana nodded.

“I get it, Lillie. I respect your privacy,” she said, with a side-eye toward the eager Mallow.

“Okay, whatever; but the kiss was amazing?” Mallow asked for confirmation again.

“Y-Yes,” said Lillie, all red.

“Well, tell us something about him!” Mallow cried. “Is he handsome?”

Lillie sighed.

“Yes, he’s very handsome,” she whispered, thinking about the light dancing across Gladion’s face in the early morning when she woke up by his side. “And he’s, uh… he’s older.”

“Ohoho, nice going, Lillie!” hooted Lana.

“How much older!?” asked Mallow.

“N-Not a lot…” Lillie trailed off, embarrassed. “He’s maybe two and a half years older?”

“Oh my God, Lillie, you know what this means right!?” Mallow squealed, and Lana and Lillie looked at her quizzically. Mallow hushed her voice. “Well, he’s an older guy, so… he’s definitely going to ask you to have sex! Are you ready for that, Lillie?”

Lillie’s head was spinning as she and her friends went to get in line to make their purchases. Have sex with Gladion? She remembered he had gotten hard against her while they were kissing. Of course her mind had gone there, but she’d been desperately trying to reel it back in.

“I-I don’t know if I’m ready for… sex,” said Lillie honestly.

“Well, you have to be firm when he asks you, because boys only want one thing,” said Mallow.

“Everyone only wants one thing,” said Lana, rolling her eyes.

“I… I trust him not to pressure me into it,” said Lillie, but now she was thinking about getting naked in bed with Gladion, and, oh no—

She remembered then that he had texted her while she was in the fitting room and she looked at her phone. 

_ Relaxing at home _ , said the text from Gladion.  _ I don’t work on Sundays. Might go out later. When can I see you again? _

Lillie’s heart did backflips as her shaking thumbs tapped out a reply.

_ I have lessons all week and then the White Party is next Friday, but I don’t have any plans for the rest of the weekend. _

Lillie paid for her clothes and left the shop with her friends. The conversation had thankfully veered off back to Lana’s trip to Johto to visit her girlfriend, and Lillie got lost in her phone as Gladion sent her another message.

_ Lusamine is still doing that stupid party? I have nightmares about being chased by a white-faced clown from when I was maybe six. Be glad you weren’t old enough to remember it. I’ll see you there on Friday. _

_ Are you sure? You never come to any of Mother’s events _ , said Lillie, surprised.

_ Yeah, ‘cus I wanna see you, and I also wanna be around if that bitch pulls any shit with you so I can tell her to leave you alone. _

Gladion wanted to see her bad enough that he would willingly attend one of their mother’s formal events? She was stunned, but Lillie felt relieved. Lusamine tended to terrorize her at parties, introducing her to all kinds of creepy rich men and judgmental wives, forcing her into conversations with them and telling her what to eat and what to drink and when to dance and who with. If Gladion were there, maybe she could stay by his side and avoid Lusamine entirely.

“He’s always rescuing me…” Lillie muttered, staring at her phone.

“Okay, who are you talking to, Lillie!? It can’t be just Gladion,” said Mallow pointedly. “Your face just lit up! You’re glowing!”

Lillie turned bright pink and clutched her phone to her chest so that her friends couldn’t peek.

“I-I am just talking to Gladion!” Lillie stammered, but then she realized that might be suspicious. “W-Well, o-okay… uh, that guy I was telling you about messaged me, too.”

“I knew it!” Mallow squealed.  
“Oh, Lillie, you must really like him!” said Lana. “What’s he saying?”

“H-He’s saying he wants to see me soon,” said Lillie, trying to be careful with what she revealed. “I, um, I’m going to see him next weekend.”

“Oh my god!” trilled Mallow. “Lillie! This is a big deal! It’s your first love!”

“I-I don’t know if I’d say that,” Lillie murmured. 

‘It’s Gladion. Of course I love him—he’s my brother! But…’

What did that mean, now that their relationship was changing?

The kisses she had shared with Gladion had changed things, she realized fully in that moment, and it shocked her system. She couldn’t pretend like it was just a dream any longer.

“This is so exciting!” Mallow squealed. “But also infuriating! You both are gonna lose your virginity before me!”

“There’s always Kiawe, I bet he’d be down,” said Lana with a mischievous grin.

Mallow gave her a scolding look, but then the green-haired girl turned back to Lillie.

“It all makes sense now, Lillie. Why you want new clothes and why you’re wearing so much makeup… it’s all because of this older guy you’re seeing!”

Lillie sighed, wishing it were all that simple. Maybe her friends really would never understand her, but she didn’t blame them for that. She didn’t even understand herself.

Still, it was better to let them think she had intensely powdered her face because of a mysterious boy than let them know the truth.

“I—I guess you have it all figured out,” said Lillie, forcing a laugh like she was okay. “I suppose we’ll see what happens next weekend.”

_ I want to see you, too. I’m glad you’re coming, _ said Lillie in a text to Gladion, and she pointed to another store across the street, distracting her friends from talking about her.

Her heart felt light and fragile in her chest, and she tried her best to ignore it as she continued shopping. There was one comforting thought despite all of it, and this was that she would get to see Gladion soon.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Guzma always had a hard time getting up in the morning, and it wasn’t odd for him to sleep until noon. Rap music played softly from the expensive stereo system in the master bedroom of the Shady House estate where Guzma was finally waking up. The music played all night, along with the buzz of a powerful air conditioner, because the white noise and extreme cold were necessary for Guzma to get to sleep. Plumeria was still sound asleep beside him, her pink and blonde hair loose and messy in stray lines all over the red silk pillows. He had slept with her again, like he always did when he was feeling particularly bad about himself.

He immediately pulled back the blankets and sighed at the ceiling.

‘You’ll do better today, Guzma,’ he said to himself as he got out of bed, which was what he said to himself every time he got up, because every day he knew he hadn’t done well enough yesterday. ‘No excuses.’

Leaving Plumeria peacefully asleep, he put on a pair of basketball shorts and grabbed his bong and a pair of sunglasses, and opened the sliding door to the balcony that overlooked the estate’s backyard. Brain hazy, he sat down in a stained white patio chair and hit the bong. He always felt like a nervous wreck upon waking and he needed to get high right away to cope with it.

‘Get it together, Guzma.’

Bird Pokémon sang out a summer song from the trees that bordered the yard. Guzma surveyed his property, noticing a pile of trash floating in the swimming pool. He would order a couple of grunts to take care of that today, he decided. His crew needed to respect the house; it belonged to all of them, after all, Guzma swore; and as Guzma did every day, he told himself he was going to start enforcing rules. He also wanted to begin repairs on all the damage and vandalism throughout the Team Skull headquarters.

Guzma hit the bong again, watching as the thick white smoke left his lungs and disappeared in the wind. His tanned skin was made for the heat, and the Alolan sun scorching his chest and legs was a pleasant feeling that helped him wake up.

He felt immensely guilty that Plumeria was asleep in his bed, and he tried to convince himself to go back with her and say something sweet to her, but he couldn’t. He loved her, but he wasn’t in love with her (the most bittersweet tragedy). The reason he had even slept with her last night was because he was hurting over the woman of his dreams ignoring his attempts to woo her and his wounded ego needed the comfort that Plumeria would provide in her absence. Plumeria was always there for him, because she was in love with him; and he knew it.

‘That means you used her.’

He hit the bong again, watching Pikipek fly over the yard.

‘You’ll do better today, Guzma.’

Once he felt awake enough, he took out his phone, ignoring the hoard of unseen text messages and instead dialing Lusamine.

He was nothing if not stubborn about the things he wanted.

The phone rang for several moments. Guzma feared briefly that she wasn’t going to pick up.

“Hello, Guzma,” came Lusamine’s brusque and sultry voice after what had to be the last ring before the call would’ve gone to voicemail.

“Hey, hey, Lucy,” said Guzma, with all the charisma he could muster. “Good morning, gorgeous.”

“It’s one o’clock,” said Lusamine irritably. “You know I hate when you call me Lucy. What do you need?”

“I just wanna hear your voice,” Guzma crooned.

“I’m hanging up if that is really the reason you bothered me,” said Lusamine steely. “I’m running diagnostics on a new prototype and I can’t be on the phone.”

‘Get it together, Guzma, fuck!’

“Haha, I’m just playing with you, beautiful. I know you’re a professional, that’s what I like about you. Look, I was wondering if I could take you to a nice dinner tonight, maybe that place on the old ship—”

“I’m busy this week,” said Lusamine.

“Come on, eight o’clock; I know the chef, you put on a little dress—”  
“You’re persistent, aren’t you, Guzma?”

“I know what I want,” said Guzma confidently.

“I do happen to love the Wishiwashi filet at the Pearl, but I am preoccupied with work. The White Party is this Friday and that takes precedence in my social calendar,” Lusamine explained.

“Oh, you’re having a little party and you didn’t tell me? Lucy, you’re playing me, baby—“

“This is not a wild house party, it’s a formal event and you are explicitly not invited. Team Skull will be nowhere near the White Party at Aether Paradise.”

“Oho, cold, Lucy, cold. Why do you love to hurt me?”

“It feels good,” she flirted. “Goodbye, Guzma.”

She hung up.

“Oh, Lucy…” Guzma muttered, and he hit the bong again and adjusted his sunglasses, relaxing in the patio chair. “You underestimate me, baby.”

Just then, the sliding door opened and Plumeria walked out onto the balcony in a skimpy tank top and a thong, her hair wild. She lit a cigarette on her way out the door.

“Never underestimate Big Bad Guzma,” said Guzma as a greeting.

“Yeah?” asked Plumeria. She wandered in her bare feet over to the railing and leaned against it. “Good morning, Big Bad Guzma.”

Guzma couldn’t help himself from checking out her ass. He had a thing for her tan lines and tattoos, particularly the Dragonair tramp stamp he had paid for her to get on her birthday last year.

“Call a house meeting this afternoon,” said Guzma. “This place is a fucking shithole and I want all the grunts to work together and clean up.”

Plumeria turned around and leaned her back against the railing, watching Guzma while she puffed on her cigarette. He never said what he needed, so she had to pay attention to the small things. Tones of his voice, if his shoulders were taut or relaxed, what he did with his hands—all these she considered, trying to discern his mood.

“Yeah? I think that’s a good idea,” she said. “It teaches them discipline. I think the Team would benefit from you showing them a firmer hand around here.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what I’ve fucking decided. I’m gonna take a shower, have them all assembled downstairs in a couple hours,” said Guzma, and he stood up. “Do you think people take me seriously, Plum?”

Plumeria was surprised by this question, but she answered honestly.

“Not as much as you deserve,” she said carefully, looking into his eyes.

Guzma nodded.

“You’re right,” he told her, opening the sliding door and entering the house.

‘That’s gonna change. I’ll show them all who I am.’

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The foyer of the Shady House was crowded when Gladion snuck in ten minutes after the appointed meeting time. The grunts were noisy, laughing and squabbling and talking amongst themselves. Plumeria stood on the staircase, yelling for everyone to be quiet.

“Shut the fuck up!” came Guzma’s angry voice from the second floor, and a round of whispers and hushes passed around the group.

Guzma appeared in view and pounded down the stairs to the platform where he stood above the crowd.

“Do I have your attention now?” he asked, surveying the room of grunts.

Gladion looked around, too. Some of the grunts nodded. He rolled his eyes.

“Tell me why it is,” Guzma began, crossing his arms and pacing around the platform, “that I respect all of you, but you don’t respect me?”

There was an audible, collective gasp from the crowd followed by a tense silence before someone spoke up.

“W-We respect you, Boss—“

“Yeah? You do?” asked Guzma rhetorically. “Then why is this place a fucking shithole? Why is there fucking trash floating in my goddamn swimming pool?”

There was a small scuffle in the crowd as elbows and shoves were traded around.

“I don’t need to know who did it,” said Guzma, exasperated. “What I’m gonna pay attention to today is who cleans it up. That’s how I’ll know who truly respects Team Skull. And it’s not just the swimming pool, I want this whole goddamn place looking spick and span. You hear me?”

“Yes, Boss,” came the chorus of grunts.

Gladion stayed silent, and he saw Guzma was looking at him for a moment. He shifted his weight on his feet and crossed his arms.

“Team Skull is proud, and it’s time we start looking that way. People talk shit about us. People look down on us. I’m fucking sick of it! People should be afraid of us. People should be intimidated by us!”

“Yeah!” a few hesitant grunts called out.

Guzma took a deep breath and surveyed the crew before him.

“Team Skull is the baddest crew in Alola!”

“Yeah!” shouted more voices and with more gusto.

“Well, don’t just stand there with your sourpuss faces, get to fucking work!” screamed Guzma, and he stamped his foot.

The grunts immediately sprang into action, running this way and that looking for something to clean. Gladion wondered if the Shady House was even stocked with cleaning supplies.

“Gladion, you stay,” said Guzma over the heads of the frantic crowd. “We’re gonna have a little chat.”

Gladion nodded, though he felt nervous. He followed Guzma up to his throne room, noticing he grew a little nauseous as he scaled the steps. He couldn’t believe he was here on his day off and he wanted to go the fuck home, not have private time with the Boss.

“Sit down,” said Guzma as they entered the den. He sank into his grand armchair and watched Gladion take a seat on the couch.

“What’s going on?” asked Gladion, paranoid and hoping he didn’t sound like it.

“I wanted to have a little chat with you about something you might have a unique insight into,” said Guzma.

“What’s that?” asked Gladion shakily.

“What is the White Party?” Guzma inquired, secretly hoping he didn’t sound stupid.

“The what?” asked Gladion, his heart still beating fast. He thought it over for a moment, relieved he wasn’t again being pressed to accept a job offer and that he wasn’t in trouble. “...You mean at Aether Paradise?”

“Yes,” said Guzma as he searched around the side table for a joint. “Tell me about it.”

Gladion laughed, but quickly noticed Guzma was staring at him with intensity, so he stopped himself.

“Uh, well, basically, a bunch of rich assholes show up in all white suits and make shady business deals while getting drunk and telling the President how much they admire her,” explained Gladion.

Guzma took a moment to process this. It surprised him that the implication of dress code was literal, but other than that it sounded like a typical fancy party.

“That’s all it is? Lucy—Lusamine made it seem like it was a big deal,” said Guzma with suspicion.

Gladion’s eyebrows rose upon hearing his mother’s first name from Guzma, but it wasn’t truly a surprise that his boss and the President regularly spoke. Team Skull and Aether Foundation had long had a link and anyone with eyes could see it, but it was a mystery to Gladion just how deep the bond between the two was. He knew his mother benefitted from Team Skull’s dealings—profited off their drug trade somehow probably, but he never had direct confirmation on any of his conspiracies. He had never forgotten that Lusamine had hired the gang to kidnap Lillie when she was only eleven years old and had run away with a powerful Pokémon.

“I, uh, I guess it’s a big deal to her? It’s a very prestigious party. Some of the most powerful men in the world and their wives will be there, and all the best Pokémon doctors,” said Gladion.

Guzma considered this.

“Are you going?” he asked Gladion.

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” said Gladion. He considered lying, but he still didn’t know why Guzma cared so much about the White Party, and he figured it was safer to tell the truth.

“Hm,” muttered Guzma. He lit the joint he had been playing with in his hands and took a deep drag. “Well, I need you to get me in.”

“Uh, what?”

“This White Party…” Guzma trailed off, smoking. “I think it would be advantageous for Team Skull if I were to be there, but Lucy—Lusamine—“

He took a deep drag of the joint.

“—she may have forgotten to send me an invitation, see? So I need to come as your guest.”

Gladion had a sinking feeling.

“She won’t be happy with me,” he said. “She likes to be in control.”

“I’ll deal with that,” said Guzma confidently. “You just need to get me through the door.”

Gladion sighed. He didn’t mind disobeying his mother, but at the same time the consequences were unpredictable, and there was no way to be sure what kind of wager he was making.

“Alright,” he agreed to Guzma’s plan. “Make sure you pick out a nice suit.”

“That ain’t gonna be a problem,” said Guzma with a big smile. He was certain he would blow Lusamine away with his handsome looks. “The best tailor on the island is a buddy of mine. Hey, why don’t you come with me tomorrow to see him? I’ll let you get something made for you as a thank you for getting me in.”

Gladion looked at Guzma with suspicion. He didn’t want to take too many things from the boss with fear of what he would be asked for in return, but he was also worried the suit he had in his closet would no longer fit him, and he had to get into the White Party himself to see Lillie.

“...Alright,” he agreed finally.

“You’re a stand up guy, Gladion,” said Guzma as he took another drag. “I just know you’re gonna be my guy. Look at you stepping up already.”

There was a pit in Gladion’s stomach.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

**_KUKUI HOUSEHOLD_ ** _ , the night of the White Party _

“Well, the kiddos are at grandma’s,” said Jason Kukui as he sauntered into the beachside house. He was wearing loose beige slacks and a white sweater, which was almost the most dressed up he had ever been, second only to his wedding where he had to stuff himself into a suit (at least for the ceremony). His tie and jacket and many buttons on his shirt had been lost by the reception, and eventually he had relieved himself of his shirt entirely. “You almost ready, honey?”

“Yes—just give me one more minute!” called Audrey Burnet-Kukui from the bathroom where she was struggling to put on a full face of makeup.

“Okay, wow. I’m not used to this,” Jason joked. “Is that really my wife in there taking more than five minutes to get ready?”

“Yes!” called Audrey, laughing. “Okay, okay, I’m coming out now.”

With the unusual chunk of heels on the floor, Audrey appeared in the hallway in a strapless white eyelet dress with her silver hair straightened, her lips a blinding shade of red.

“Well?” she asked, genuinely insecure. “What do you think?”

“Are—are you sure you’re my wife?” asked Jason, floored. “You are so beautiful. You look like a supermodel.”

“I just, ugh, I really want Lusamine to know I’m taking this seriously and that I care about Aether Foundation,” said Audrey with a heavy sigh. “Is it too much?”

“No, no,” said Jason, shaking his head as he grinned ear to ear. “It’s just—I think you’ll be upstaging Lusamine looking like that.”

Audrey blushed.

“Jason! Should I change?”

“No. You shouldn’t apologize for being beautiful. I want everyone to see how gorgeous my wife is.”

Audrey smiled, her heart warm with love for her husband. Still, she sighed again over her elaborate appearance.

“Why does it have to be about how I look?” Audrey pouted. “Influential scientists will be there and I want them to ask me about my discoveries. I want to talk about my passion for researching Pokemon, not what designer I’m wearing.”

“Gorgeous and a brilliant scientist,” Jason corrected himself. His eyes would never not sparkle when he looked at her, he was so in love.

Audrey laughed, smiled, and eyed her husband playfully.

“You’re so full of it, Kukui,” she teased. “Ugh, I’m just so nervous. I’ve really been hoping Lusamine will notice the work I’ve been doing lately. It’s really important, you know?”

“Everyone will see how passionate you are about your research, Audrey, I just know it.”

Audrey laughed and wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck.

“And that’s what I love about you, Kukui,” she said before she kissed him passionately. “You believe in me.”

“If you keep doing that, we’ll never leave the house,” Jason flirted. “Come on, we have to hurry if we’re going to catch the ferry to Aether Paradise.”

“Well, we do have the house all to ourselves tonight,” said Audrey. “One benefit to missing my babies.”

Jason grabbed his car keys and Audrey packed her cell phone in a little white clutch.

“We might make another baby tonight,” Jason teased as he turned off the lights and they headed out of the cottage.

“Oh no, we will not!” Audrey laughed. “I have my hands full with these two already.”

The moon was particularly bright tonight in Alola, and the waves crashed gently against the shore as Jason and Audrey got into their car to drive to the harbor. On the ocean, many expensive boats with bright lights were on their way to Aether Paradise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ready for the white party? A LOT of drama has to occur at that event so it might be quite long... updating is taking me a little longer these days but i am still plugging away at this fic ;-;


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